Instead of calling off the game \u2013 as would be expected today \u2013 the authorities decided to carry on, later claiming they feared there would be riots in the crowd if it was abandoned.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the incident three decades on, Black Caps all-rounder Dion Nash said players and management were left \u201ccompletely in the dark\u201d until after the game had finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a crazy time to play cricket in India,\u201d Nash told the Herald. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a maxed-out crowd. It wasn\u2019t one of the main areas, so they didn\u2019t get cricket all the time. There were people hanging from the rafters just to watch the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nash says he remembers seeing smoke and a large commotion in the crowd, \u201cbut nothing happened of it\u201d.<\/p>\n
Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground hosting the 1995 ODI between the Black Caps and India. Photo \/ YouTube<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone just kept carrying on cheering and the game carried on. There were no ambulances that were visible to us from the field, the crowd didn\u2019t stop in silence. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was none of what you\u2019d expect if something like that had happened, and so we just carried on quite obliviously and played the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Black Caps bowled India out for 249 \u2013 winning by 99 runs \u2013 Nash said there was a line of army and police personnel shooing players from both teams to the changing rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn\u2019t that unusual with the crowds like that, but they were really aggressively pushing us in, which was unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said when the team got into the changing room, their gear bags were already packed and they were rushed out of the ground \u2013 still wearing their cricket whites \u2013 to a bus waiting to take them away.<\/p>\n
The Indian side was loaded on to the same bus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until we were on the bus and away that we were told what was going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people at the ground explained that their fear was if they called the game off, there would be rioting and more people would die. But they were also fearful that once people knew at the end of the game what had happened, people would riot and then potentially we wouldn\u2019t get out of there because we\u2019d carried on.<\/p>\n
Black Caps allrounder Dion Nash. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember there was a bit of anger in the squad because we weren\u2019t given any information or choice at all … [They were] playing with our lives too a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirteen people had lost their lives; that\u2019s a significant event. What were we doing playing cricket?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nash said there was often a lot of commotion whenever the Black Caps toured India during that time of year, with spectators letting off firecrackers and lighting fires in the stands.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was full on. Sometimes you couldn\u2019t hear each other in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Black Caps fast bowler Danny Morrison said players initially thought the disturbance in the crowd was due to fans trying to sneak into the small, but packed-out stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very difficult to know what was really going on. There was some commotion and a bit of a ruckus. We thought it was about too many people trying to get in who didn\u2019t have tickets, or had black market tickets and there was just a massive disturbance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stopped the game for some time … they really wouldn\u2019t quite say [what happened] at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Black Caps fast bowler Danny Morrison. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
He said the section of the grandstand collapsed at the back of the stadium, so players were unable to see any debris come tumbling down.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the cement hadn\u2019t sealed, hadn\u2019t dried out. They rushed it and sadly it collapsed. We weren\u2019t to know that, that was the freaky thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the authorities were probably quite concerned that would cause a riot and a real nasty incident to get out of there safely. You\u2019ve heard horror stories where they [fans] would just burn sections of the stadium and, you know, if the thing went up you\u2019d be in trouble because of the stampede of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think more than anything you just felt quite sad for people there and the fans that get subjected to what they have to view a game in and their surroundings.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Herald ran a small Reuters story on the front page the next day headlined \u2018Cricket spectators killed watching NZ beat India\u2019.<\/p>\n
But there was no other mention in the following days, with the coverage more focused on the New Zealand side earning a day off before the sixth and final ODI in Brabourne three days later.<\/p>\n