World's largest cricket stadium's foundation laid in Ahmedabad

What’s the story?

The foundation stone for the “world’s largest cricket stadium” has been laid down at Ahmedabad. The Gujarat Cricket Association(GCA) president Parimal Nathwani, along with other office bearers sowed the seed for the project.

“The total cost of the project is estimated at 700 crores. The stadium will have 76 corporate boxes, four dressing rooms, a clubhouse, an Olympic-size swimming pool,” said Nathwani giving an insight into the details of the project.

In case you didn’t know...

The world’s largest cricket stadium presently is the Melbourne Cricket Ground which can seat upto 90,000 spectators. Eden Gardens is the largest cricket stadium in India right now which can house 66,000 people during a match.

M/s. Populous – the architect firm which had designed the iconic Australian venue which hosted the 2015 World Cup final, has been roped in to design the stadium in Ahmedabad. The construction process of the stadium has been awarded through a tender process by the major engineering firm L&T. The construction is expected to be complete in two years time.

The heart of the matter

An aerial view of how the new stadium will look like (Image courtesy: Gujarat Cricket Association)

Ahmedabad currently houses the Sardar Patel Stadium which is popularly known as ‘Motera Stadium’. The stadium had hosted India’s quarter-final against Australia in the 2011 World Cup. The stadium which had a capacity of 54,000 had recently been razed by the GCA to make way for the new project.

The upcoming new stadium will have a seating capacity of 1.10 lac, making it the largest stadium in the world in terms of seating capacity.

What next?

The layout of the stadium has to be designed keeping in mind the problems that would come along with a huge number of people entering the venue. One such concern is the traffic congestion during match days.The GCA is planning to segregate the design of the stadium into three parts so that the traffic could be appropriately divided. This would help the people in reaching the venue without much hassles.

The GCA has also hinted that on completion the new stadium will have a different name.

Sportskeeda’s take

The day the upcoming stadium gets completed, India will proudly have the bragging rights for having the largest cricket stadium in the world. Having more people coming in for a cricket match will definitely prove to be a fillip towards attracting more youngsters in the country towards the sport.

Proud feeling for Gujarat to get the largest stadium in the world ! Great effort by @mpparimal and team https://t.co/9YJCwbqxeW

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) December 8, 2016