Sardar Patel Stadium dislodges Australia’s MCG to become the largest cricket stadium in the world

President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the Sardar Patel Stadium in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah today
The Sardar Patel Stadium in Gujarat
The Sardar Patel Stadium in GujaratTwitter

The Motera stadium in Gujarat has become the largest cricket ground overtaking Australia’s Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The stadium is located at Sabarmati in Ahmedabad and comes under the Gujurat Cricket Association.

President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the Sardar Patel Stadium also known as the Motera Stadium, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah today. The Motera stadium is spread over 63 acres and can house up to 1.10 lakh people. Till now, Melbourne Cricket Ground held the record as it could hold around 90,000 people in one sitting.

The Motera Stadium will be hosting the third Test, a Day/Night Test match, and the fourth Test between India and England. According to reports, the Motera Stadium with four stadiums in Mumbai is likely to host the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. Reportedly, the four Mumbai stadiums would host the league stages of the tournament and the Motera stadium would host the play-offs.

Several English and Indian players are in awe of the size and infrastructure of the stadium. The players are currently training at the stadium for the upcoming Test match, starting Wednesday. Several English and Indian players took to Twitter to share their excitement about the stadium.

According to a press release, the Motera Stadium has a total of 11 clay pitches of six red and five black soils prepared. The stadium is the first to use both coloured clays for main and practice pitches. The press release also said that in case of rainfall, the pitch can be dried within 30 minutes. The stadium also has 76 corporate boxes, an Olympic level swimming pool, an indoor academy, four dressing rooms for athletes, food courts and a GCA clubhouse.

The old Motera stadium, which could house up to 54,000 people, was demolished in 2016. The old stadium witnessed many historic feats such as Sunil Gavaskar scoring his 10,000th run – making him the first batsman to do so, Sachin Tendulkar scoring his 30,000th run in international cricket, Kapil Dev taking his 432nd Test wicket at the very same ground, among many others feats.

In 2018, the Gujarat Cricket Association laid the foundation stone. Larson & Turbo (L&T) constructed the new stadium at an estimate of Rs 800 crore and completed it in 2 years. The last major event held at the stadium was former US President Donald Trump to address his ‘Namaste Trump’ rally in February 2020.

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