The festivities were over. The President of the country came, the Home Minister and the Sports Minister came. There will be so much hype surrounding the third Test of the India-England series. International cricket is watching the biggest stadium of the game with this test! But until yesterday it was known by that name, the name changed after one night!
Some people used to call it Sardar Patel Stadium, but it was better known to the Indians as Motera Stadium. But from now on it is Narendra Modi Stadium. The stadium was named after the Prime Minister of India Ramnath Kobind today.
‘When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the idea of this stadium first came to his mind. He was also the president of Gujarat Cricket Association at that time. We have decided to name the stadium after the Prime Minister of the country. This was Modiji’s (Mr. Modi) dream project, ”said Ramnath Kobind, who came to inaugurate the stadium. 1 lakh 32 thousand spectators will be able to watch the game together sitting in this shiny modern stadium! The President of India also described another feature of the stadium, “The stadium is another example of eco-friendly development.”
The 63-acre stadium cost about Rs 600 crore to build, according to Indian media. The stadium, which has a capacity of 132,000 spectators, has snatched the ‘crown’ of the largest stadium in cricket from the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia. The capacity of MCG was 90 thousand.
According to the Press Information Bureau of India, “32 Olympic pieces of evidence are added to the football field. The construction company of the MCG was entrusted with the task of constructing the Populus Narendra Modi Stadium in Australia. There are 11 pitches made of red and black clay here. The same ground has been used on the main pitch and the practice pitch এটি this is the first stadium in the world to have such a facility.
The drainage system of this field is also sophisticated. According to Indian media, the water can be dried within 30 minutes of the rain stopping. There is also a great change in the floodlight system. Floodlights are usually seen on tall towers in stadiums, but instead of that, LED lights have been installed around the roof of the stadium. That is why there will be no shadow of cricketers on the field during the game – the first event in India.
Although stadiums usually have two dressing rooms, it is the first stadium in the world to have four different dressing rooms to accommodate two consecutive matches on the same day. Adjacent to the ground are the cricket academy, indoor practice pitch and two separate practice grounds attached to the small pavilion.
‘As a child, we dreamed that the biggest stadium in the world would be in India. Now that I am the Sports Minister, I am overjoyed to see that dream come true, ”said Kiren Rijiju, India’s Sports Minister.
The stadium was closed in 2015 for reconstruction. The stadium has witnessed a lot of history in Indian cricket. The match against Pakistan in 1966, when Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar reached the 10,000-run milestone in Test cricket, took place at the stadium. In 1994, Kapil Dev became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket at the stadium, surpassing Sir Richard Hadley for the 432nd wicket of his Test career.
