New Motera Stadium: Four dressing rooms, LED lights installed to eliminate shadows

The WORLD’s largest cricket stadium hosted its first day of cricket in a big way with a series of VVIPs, key announcements, tons of grounds and a new name.

The 130,000-seat stadium in Motera in the prime minister’s home state of Gujarat, which was inaugurated on Wednesday by President Ramnath Kovind, will be known as Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium and will be part of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave.

Formerly known as the Sardar Patel Stadium, or Motera Stadium, before the massive remodel, the new name was revealed only when President Kovind opened a digital plaque that said the “Narendra Modi Stadium” had been opened.

This is the first public structure of its kind to be named after Prime Minister Modi in the country, and the Gujarat government later confirmed that it would be called Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium.

In his speech, the president credited Modi for conceptualizing the new stadium when he was the prime minister of Gujarat and headed the Gujarat Cricket Association. “India is known as the powerhouse or center of cricket. So it is appropriate that the largest stadium in the world is in our country, ”he said.

Union Interior Minister Amit Shah described the occasion as “a golden day in the history of sport in India”. “President Kovind has conducted the bhoomi pujan for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Sports Enclave, which will also encompass the newly built stadium. This will also be the largest sports complex in the country, ”he said.

Shah said that the “sports complex in Motera of which the Narendra Modi stadium is part and the new sports complex in Naranpura will help Ahmedabad to host any international event such as the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games or the Olympic Games.” “After this infrastructure emerges, Ahmedabad will be known as a sports city,” he said.

As Shah spoke, among those on the stand were his son and BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani and his son and Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) Vice President Dhanraj Nathwani.

Amit Shah during the opening performance at the Motera Stadium. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

Gujarat’s Chief Deputy Minister Nitin Patel also spoke at the event. Later, responding to criticism from the Opposition Congress that renaming the stadium was “an insult to Sardar Patel”, Patel said there was no question that the stadium would be renamed. “It was always famous as Estadio Motera. That stadium has been named Narendrabhai Modi Cricket Stadium by the GCA today, ”he said.

The proposed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel sports enclave in Motera will cost Rs 4,600 crore of which the government will invest Rs 3,200 crore, while Rs 1,400 crore will be raised through PPP mode with the state to provide 236 acres of land.

Shah said that a new 18-acre, 458 crore sports complex will also be built in the Naranpura town of Ahmedabad. According to him, the sports complex and stadium will be connected to 650 schools in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar that do not have their own playgrounds so that students have joint physical training sessions once a week.

According to officials, the proposed enclave will be an integrated complex spread over 215 acres, with venues for more than 20 Olympic disciplines, including athletics, soccer, water sports, basketball, tennis, hockey and badminton. The facility, with 93 lakh square feet of built space, will be able to host 2.5 lakh visitors during an event day.

Key venues for this complex will include a 50,000-seat athletics and soccer stadium with a 400m track. It will have a 1.2 lakh-ft2 indoor aquatic center with 50m and 25m indoor and outdoor pools; a 15,000-seat field hockey stadium, a 5,000-seat cycling velodrome, a 5,000-seat tennis stadium and a navigation center. It will also have an indoor area with a capacity of 10,000-12,000 people for multi-spectator sports.

Additional facilities such as an athlete’s village with 3,000 apartments, administrative offices, hotels, shops and food courts have also been planned.

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, who was also present at the event, said: “Ahmedabad will become a sports city in the near future.”

Meanwhile, on the ground, the opening day of the day-night pink ball event lived up to expectations with England opting to hit first and being eliminated for just 112, and local star Axar Patel stole the show. with a tour of six fields. . In response, India was 99 times three.

Wednesday also marked another milestone. Ishant Sharma was playing his 100th test, and President Kovind presented him with a plaque and Interior Minister Shah a commemorative cap.

Meanwhile, India’s captain Virat Kohli was all praise for the stadium. “It is an outstanding stadium, something outstanding for Indian cricket and it is also great to watch for the world,” he said at the draw.

In the imposing stands, the crowd was constant, from around 20,000 fans at the start to around 40,000 when the lights were turned on.

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