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| Stadium Name | Motera or Sardar Patel Stadium |
| Capacity | 1,10,000 |
| City | Ahmedabad |
| Country | India |
| Dimensions | 162 yards x 170 yards |
| First match | India v West Indies, Nov 12-16, 1983 |
The Gujarat Cricket Association reconstructed the Motera Stadium in the early months of 2020 and hosted the then US President Donald Trump in February, a month before the COVID-19 lockdown in all of India.
The renovation made it one of the spectacles in the cricket community. Becoming one of the most picturesque cricket stadiums in the world, it has also become the largest. The Motera of old, which is also known as Sardar Patel Stadium, is situated at the centre of Ahmedabad city in Gujarat. A fact not to be missed about the newly constructed stadium apart from the increase in crowd capacity from about 45,000 to 1.1 lakh is that it will be the second stadium to host India’s day/night Test at home.
The winning tender for the reconstruction of the Motera stadium was that of Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T). L&T began the renovation work in December 2016 and completed it in February 2020. The estimated cost was Rs. 800 crores.
The Gujarat Cricket Association owns the Motera Stadium.
The pitch at the Motera stadium is not firm on its nature and is usually produced as per the demands of the match. Six out of the 12 Test matches played here have produced a result and the aggregate runs per over in those was 2.88. It has hosted 23 ODIs so far and has witnessed a number of interesting games that have seen a good balance between bat and ball. The only T20I played at this venue between India and Pakistan had runs scored at close to 10 runs per over displaying the fact that the pitch varies as per the match.
One does not usually talk about acres of land when talking about a cricket stadium but the Motera is built over 63 acres of land. It now has 3 entry points with one of them connected to the Motera metro line. It has a 55-room clubhouse, 76 corporate boxes with a seating capacity of 25 each and a very unique feature of 4 dressing rooms.
There are LED lights on the roof instead of the traditional floodlights, which will be fully functioning for the very first international match post reconstruction, the day/night Test between the Indian cricket team and England. The design of the roof does not require pillars, providing a full view of the stadium from any seat without anything blocking the view.
Outside the cricket ground is an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an indoor cricket academy, badminton and tennis courts, a squash arena, a table-tennis area, a clubhouse with three practice grounds and 50 rooms, a 3D projector theatre and a parking lot that accommodates 3,000 cars and 10,000 two-wheelers.
The Motera stadium is now the world’s largest cricket stadium with a capacity of 1,10,000 surpassing the Melbourne Cricket Ground which has a capacity of 1,00,024.
The waterproofing job of the Motera stadium has been undertaken by the structural engineering company Walter P Moore.
The Sardar Patel Stadium and Sardar Vallabhai stadium are two different stadiums in Gujarat and are often confused for the other. As a result, the former has been named Motera stadium for being situated in Motera.
The Motera stadium is also called the Sardar Patel stadium.
Apart from 12 Tests, 23 ODIs, 1 T20I and numerous domestic matches including the knockout games of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021, the Motera stadium hosted the then US President Donald Trump on 24 February 2020. The ‘Namaste Trump’ event also had the US First Lady Melania Trump and their daughter Ivanka Trump. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the Trump family in an event similar to the ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Texas, USA.
