‘Grand’ ‘Superbly Equipped’ World’s Biggest Motera Stadium In Ahmedabad Opens Its Gates For Cricket

Frequently described as the World’s largest cricket stadium, Ahmedabad’s Motera stadium hosts its first domestic match between Karnataka and Punjab. First International match on 24 February between India and England.

World's Largest cricket Stadium: Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel Stadium.

Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium, also known as the Motera stadium has got its new revamped look. The old stadium was demolished in 2016. Before that, it was a regular venue for Test and limited overs matches in India. The construction of the new stadium began in 2016 and the estimated cost of building this grand stadium is 8 billion rupees. It is equipped with all modern facilities. According to reports, the proposal for new Stadium with a larger capacity was proposed by Narendra Modi, when he was president of the GCA and Chief Minister of Gujarat. The stadium also hosted the 'Namaste Trump' rally in February 2020. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Grand ✅<br>Superbly equipped ✅<br><br>Welcome to the Motera - the biggest cricket stadium in the world. 👏👏 <a href="https://twitter.com/GCAMotera?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@GCAMotera</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SyedMushtaqAliT20?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#SyedMushtaqAliT20</a> <a href="https://t.co/KoNodrgcMf" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/KoNodrgcMf</a></p>&mdash; BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCCIdomestic/status/1353966220056391683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The capacity of the new stadium is approximately 1, 10,000 which makes it the world’s largest cricket stadium. The Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, is the world’s largest stadium with a seating capacity of 114,000. India vs England’s third Test will be the first international match that will be played on the ground from 24 February.

The first match after the doors were opened for competitive cricket:

The on-going Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy’s Quarter Final was played between Karnataka and Punjab. It became the first ever game to be played at the new venue. Punjab easily won the game by nine wickets and secured a place in the tournament’s semi-final. Remaining all the matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy would be played at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

Cricketer Parthiv Patel tweeted a video of the stadium and wrote: “You gotta see it to believe it..not just the biggest but the best.. @GCAMotera”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You gotta see it to believe it..not just the biggest but the best..<a href="https://twitter.com/GCAMotera?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@GCAMotera</a> <a href="https://t.co/KNj8PNuZcF" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/KNj8PNuZcF</a></p>&mdash; parthiv patel (@parthiv9) <a href="https://twitter.com/parthiv9/status/1354064662367784962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 26, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The stadium looks grand and it even beats India’s previous largest stadium, The Eden Gardens of Kolkata. Here are some of the facts related to the new Motera stadium:

• The new Motera Stadium is spread across 63. It has 76 corporate boxes with a seating capacity of 25 each. It also has an Olympic-size swimming pool and four dressing rooms.
• The Sardar Patel Stadium was one of the venues for the 2006 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy.
• So far, it has hosted games in all the World Cups organized in India. The most celebrated match was the India-Australia quarter final of the 2011 World Cup.
• It is considered a batsman’s paradise with a flat wicket and small boundaries.
• Sunil Gavaskar completed 10,000 runs in Tests in 1986–87 against Pakistan and became the first player to do so. 

All eyes would now be on the third Test match between India and England which is going to be hosted by the Motera stadium.