The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, commonly known as the HPCA Stadium is a cricket stadium located in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. The stadium is situated at an altitude of more than 1400 metres above sea level, in between high mountains which makes it the most ideal ground for playing.
The stadium is owned and operated by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association and is the home ground of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket team. Besides this, it is the secondary home ground of the IPL team Kings XI Punjab.
The HPCA stadium has a seating capacity of 23,000 spectators.
History
The construction work of the stadium started in 2002 and it was inaugurated a year later in 2003. The first match to be played on this ground was a Duleep Trophy match between the East Zone and the South Zone in February, 2004.
The first international match to be hosted on this stadium was the ODI match between England and India in January, 2013 which was won by England by seven wickets.
Major Matches
The stadium was the host when India lost a T20 international match against South Africa even after setting a mammoth target of 200 runs in 2015.
The HPCA Stadium also hosted all the Group A matches during the 2016 ICC World T20. It also hosted a Super 10 stage match between Australia and New Zealand which was won by New Zealand by 8 runs.
The HPCA Stadium hosted its first test match in March 2017 between India and Australia which was won by hosts by four wickets.
Controversies
The HPCA Stadium was the scheduled stadium for the Super 10 match between India and Pakistan. However, the match was later shifted to Eden Gardens, Kolkata after the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister said that he would not be able to provide adequate security to the Pakistan team in his state.
Recent Matches
The Dharamsala Stadium hosted its last match in December 2017 which was an ODI match between India and Sri Lanka. The Indian team made one of its lowest scores in ODI cricket of just 112 runs and lost the match by seven wickets.
