On Wednesday, President Ram Nath Kovind performed ‘Bhumi Pujan’ and inaugurated the revamped Motera Stadium ahead of the start of the Day-Night Test between India and England.
The newly built sports enclave, located in Gujarat’s Motera, was earlier known as ‘Sardar Vallabhbhai Stadium’ for several years now. The Gujarat Cricket Association, in a mammoth project, has now expanded the erstwhile stadium into a huge sports enclave. The sports enclave will be henceforth known as the ‘Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave’.
The previous Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad was demolished to re-develop a sports complex. The newly built sports facility houses the world’s largest cricket ground, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an indoor cricket academy, badminton, tennis courts, a squash arena, a table tennis area, football, hockey, basketball, a 3D projector theatre, and a clubhouse.
The world’s biggest cricket stadium inside the ‘Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave’ has been named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The stadium, which has a seating capacity of 1,10,000, will be hosting the pink-ball Test between India and England from Wednesday.
The name of the sports facility not changed
It is important to note that the name of Sardar Patel has not been removed. In fact, his name has been elevated to mark the entire sports enclave that includes various other sporting facilities. Only the cricket stadium has been named after PM Narendra Modi and not the entire sports enclave.
Additionally, the sports enclave and the stadium are not the only initiatives that the Gujarat government has in mind for the state. Home Minister Amit Shah, while speaking at the inaugural event, said there are also plans to build a sports complex in Naranpura area of Ahmedabad.
The renaming of the refurbished stadium at Motera after Narendra Modi comes after the consideration of his tenure as the President of Gujarat Cricket Association from September 2009 to May 2014 and not from the fact that he is currently the Prime Minister of the country. Modi, as the administration of the Gujarat Cricket Association, was instrumental in the redevelopment of the entire sports facility.
As Narendra Modi swore as the Prime Minister of the country, he promptly resigned from the post of President of GCA. Amit Shah, who was then the GCA vice-president, took over the reins of the GCA and successfully built the world’s biggest facility at Motera.
The newly built sports enclave is spread over 63 acres and the Narendra Modi stadium takes a fraction of the space in the entire stadium. The stadium has been built at an estimated cost of ₹800 crore by the L&T.
The earlier stadium was constructed in 1982 and initially had a seating capacity of 49,000. The new facility has dressing rooms big enough to accommodate four teams. The stadium also has a state-of-the-art gymnasium and six indoors practice pitches with three outdoor practice fields, among other amenities.
