The outfield’s grassy and smooth character has remained age-defying — good to draw a court and start playing tennis — while the stands no longer demand hardy trousers that could withstand the severity of sitting through a cricket match on a coarse slab of concrete.

The Eden Gardens hasn’t been just cricket but a life lived under its rich history that rose to mythical proportions at times, felt a panel of Bengal cricketers spanning generations at a discussion commemorating 150 years of the hallowed stadium, organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce in association with The Telegraph as part of their “Think” series of lectures on Wednesday.

Rusi Jeejeebhoy, a 77-year-old former Bengal wicketkeeper, recreated the sub-plots in the big story that make Eden, er, Eden.

He recollected being told on his first-class debut by captain Pankaj Roy to collect Rs 2 from all 15 players in the squad for the man who carried their bags, cricket’s equivalent of a caddie. After reaching home that evening, he “realised that the bagman got Rs 30 from us, same as our match fee”.

“But I was left with Rs 28 because I had contributed Rs 2 to his Rs 30,” said Jeejeebhoy, who has to his credit 104 catches and 30 stumpings from 46 first-class matches in the ’50s.

Wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta, opening batsman Gopal Bose and off-spinner Saradindu Mukherjee spoke of their tryst with the ground — from wooden pavilions and lawn tennis tournaments at Eden.

Dasgupta, the youngest among the panellists, said he stood in awe during his first time at Eden for a club match at 17. “Born and brought up in Delhi, I didn’t grow up playing at Eden like the others here. I was awestruck as I entered the ground. It was spectacular but intimidating as well. It was like the Colloseum in Rome. I suddenly became conscious of the ground’s legacy,” he said.

Bose said Eden’s character had changed over the years because of “haphazard constructions”, but the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) had been able to slowly correct the flaws.

CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey, the lone non-player in the panel, nodded in acknowledgement.

Bose said: “The ground looks well with the new stands and bucket seats. Earlier, you wore your hardiest and worst worn-out trousers to the stands because the cramped and coarse concrete stands were sure to punch holes in them.”

He said Eden’s outfield has been the best in the country, always above Delhi’s dusty Feroz Shah Kotla and the undulating Wankhede Stadium. “Our outfield has always been smooth. In fact, you could draw a court anywhere on the field and start playing tennis. That’s all they had to do to hold the Bengal lawn tennis championship at Eden,” he added.

The old-timers linked Eden’s vanishing swing with the new constructions, especially the design of some of the stands, which have changed the course of wind flowing into the stadium.

“The best swing bowlers in the country used to come from the east. Pacers Subrata Guha and Chaku (Samar Chakraborti) come to mind. But that tradition has long become history,” said Jeejeebhoy, upset over the ball swinging less on the Eden pitch nowadays.

So do we pull down the big stands that came up before the 1987 World Cup and rebuilt later? “Certainly not. Change is the only thing that’s perpetual,” Bose said.