It was he who brought Caribbean greats to city

As Mayor, he had toiled day and night to build Indira Priyadarshini Stadium in just three months to host the first three-day international match

D.V. Subba Rao with legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar when the former was the administrative manager to the Indian team to West Indies in 1997. - File photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Never before 1987 did people of Visakhapatnam dream of seeing the West Indian team in flesh and blood, and that too of the likes of Sir Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall, and Courtney Walsh.

Thanks to D.V. Subba Rao, who was then Mayor of the City of Destiny, it was made possible.

While the people of this city may remember Mr. Subba Rao for many reasons, it was he who was instrumental in bringing international cricket to the city. Mr. Subba Rao passed away on Saturday, but many of his colleagues remember him for his day-and-night toil to build Indira Priyadarshini Stadium in just three months from the scratch, to host the first three-day international match between the visiting West Indies team and the Indian Board President XI from December 18, 1987.

Sometime during August 1987, the BCCI had asked N. Venkat Rao, the then Secretary of the ACA, if a stadium could be built for a three-day match against the visiting West Indian team.

With trust in D.V. Subba Rao, the then Mayor, the task was entrusted to the VDCA. And the stadium was built in three months.

Mr. Subba Rao, once in an interview to

The Hindu Metro Plus , had said, “It was a great challenge, but we took it up. I had faith in my colleagues in the VDCA and even requisitioned former medium pacer of Mysore, Kasturirangan, to lay the pitch and prepare the ground. And on the day of the match, when the Doordarshan OB vans had arrived for the first time in Vizag, it was a proud feeling for me and all Vizagites.” A number of matches were played later in that ground.

A true lover of cricket, the game will surely miss him.