Sardar Patel Stadium aka the Motera, the world’s largest cricket stadium, is set to host the day-night pink ball India-England Test from February 24-28. The venue in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad has a capacity of 1,10,000, but will allow only 55,000 fans in line with Covid-19 protocol.
Earlier, the stadium had a seating capacity of housing 49,000 cricket fans. First opened in the early 1980s, the Motera was closed for reconstruction in 2015. It had hosted its first ODI in 1984.
A total of INR 800 crore was spent to revamp this grand stadium in Ahmedabad. The new Motera Stadium broke the record by surpassing Melbourne Cricket Ground which has the capacity to accommodate 90,000 spectators.
After six years, the iconic stadium is all set to hold its first international match which is touted to be the series decider between the two ICC World Test Championship frontrunners.
It’s the stadium that also hosted the ‘Namaste Trump’ event, where former US president Donald Trump shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi exactly a year ago.
Spread across 63 acres, the stadium boasts the newly installed LED floodlights which will help players spot the aerial balls. It is the first time that the field of an Indian cricket stadium has been fitted with LED lights.
The Motera is the only stadium in the world to have 11 centre pitches on the main ground. Gujarat Cricket Association’s joint secretary Anil Patel had asserted that the Sardar Patel Stadium is also the only stadium in the world with four dressing rooms for the players. It has an indoor cricket academy with a dormitory for 40 athletes and a seating capacity of 25 each in 76 corporate boxes.
A total of 3,000 cars can be parked at the venue as well as 10,000 two-wheelers. Not just the capacity of the fans inside the stadium but the parking space is also biggest all across the world.
In awe of the stadium, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya revealed that it took the players almost an hour to get used to the massive size of the world’s largest cricket arena. “All the boys loved it, I think, for us, it took almost one hour to get used to the size of the ground, the kind of facilities it has provided us, I feel really, really proud that we have this in India,” Pandya tweeted.
