AHMEDABAD: India will host Australia from Thursday at the world’s biggest cricket stadium for the fourth and final Test.
Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese will attend, with huge billboards of the pair erected on the ground.
Here is an in-depth look at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, where an exceptional crowd is expected:
The stadium has a capacity of 132,000 seats. It has never been sold out for cricket but it set a record for a cricket match in May last year when 104,859 saw the Indian Premier League final between Gujarat Titans and Royals of Rajasthan. The stadium is in the western state of Gujarat.
It bears the name of the current Indian Prime Minister, who will go there on Thursday with his Australian counterpart for the first day. The stadium was built in 1982 but then rebuilt, expanded and renamed several times. It opened in its current form in 2020 but crowds were initially restricted due to the Covid pandemic.
The last reconstruction of the circular site cost around $100 million and offers stunning views from every seat. There are two tiers, with the top of the upper tier under cover, and the seats are in Indian team blue and saffron. The site includes an Olympic swimming pool as part of a multi-sports complex. There are 76 corporate boxes.
The stadium’s latest incarnation hosted a rally in 2020 for then-US President Donald Trump. An estimated 100,000 people were in attendance when Trump emerged into the sweltering stadium, to the sound of the Village People’s ‘Macho Man’, as Modi pulled out all the stops to welcome the US leader to his home state.
Organizers have not said how many tickets have been sold, but Australian players are relishing the prospect of what could be a crowd of over 100,000. “It’s a good chance it’s a pretty cool atmosphere,” said substitute skipper Steve Smith. “A lot of guys have never seen the stadium before, they all came in today and it’s massive – it’s got 130,000 in it – if we get somewhere around that number it will be amazing, the atmosphere. ”
Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese will attend, with huge billboards of the pair erected on the ground.
Here is an in-depth look at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, where an exceptional crowd is expected:
The stadium has a capacity of 132,000 seats. It has never been sold out for cricket but it set a record for a cricket match in May last year when 104,859 saw the Indian Premier League final between Gujarat Titans and Royals of Rajasthan. The stadium is in the western state of Gujarat.
It bears the name of the current Indian Prime Minister, who will go there on Thursday with his Australian counterpart for the first day. The stadium was built in 1982 but then rebuilt, expanded and renamed several times. It opened in its current form in 2020 but crowds were initially restricted due to the Covid pandemic.
The last reconstruction of the circular site cost around $100 million and offers stunning views from every seat. There are two tiers, with the top of the upper tier under cover, and the seats are in Indian team blue and saffron. The site includes an Olympic swimming pool as part of a multi-sports complex. There are 76 corporate boxes.
The stadium’s latest incarnation hosted a rally in 2020 for then-US President Donald Trump. An estimated 100,000 people were in attendance when Trump emerged into the sweltering stadium, to the sound of the Village People’s ‘Macho Man’, as Modi pulled out all the stops to welcome the US leader to his home state.
Organizers have not said how many tickets have been sold, but Australian players are relishing the prospect of what could be a crowd of over 100,000. “It’s a good chance it’s a pretty cool atmosphere,” said substitute skipper Steve Smith. “A lot of guys have never seen the stadium before, they all came in today and it’s massive – it’s got 130,000 in it – if we get somewhere around that number it will be amazing, the atmosphere. ”
