AGENCIES, Ahmedabad: When it comes to adjectives or superlatives related to events or infrastructure, the name of the country that comes to one’s mind first is United Arab Emirates – especially Dubai or its capital city Abu Dhabi. But when it comes to cricket, then India, as the world’s largest cricket crazy nation can also boast of a few achievements in this field.
For starters, let’s take Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad that is well on its way to become the largest cricket stadium in the world. The stadium was built on the banks of the Sabarmati River in 1982 and was renovated before the Champions Trophy in 2006. In 2006, three new pitches and a new outfield were laid, and state of the art floodlights and covered stands were added.
For 2020 and beyond, spectator hosting has been doubled to 110,000 from its previous capacity of 54,000 and both fans and the playing fraternity seem to be more than impressed.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has also reacted on the venue which is expected to be inaugurated by US President Donald Trump during his visit to India.
“Lovely to see such a massive, pretty stadium .. Ahmedabad .. have great memories in this ground as a player ,captain ..grew up at Eden with hundred thousand capacity .. (not any more).. can’t wait to see this on 24th,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
The BCCI on Tuesday shared an ariel view of Motera Stadium. “Motera Stadium Ahmedabad, India Seating capacity of more than 1,10,000,” the BCCI said in a tweet.
The Sun is out! 🌞#MoteraStadium
Ahmedabad, India 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/JYAC886Bd4— BCCI (@BCCI) February 19, 2020
Motera has held one T20I (Pakistan’s final international on Indian soil, played back in 2012), 12 Test matches and 24 ODIs — the last of which, between India and Sri Lanka in November 2014, was also the final game it hosted before it closed for reconstruction.
In September 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi (he has also served as the president of the Gujarat Cricket Association, which runs the venue) sanctioned the job for the expansion.
