A generic view of Gwalior's Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium. (Express Photo by Pratyush Raj)
Built on the outskirts of Gwalior, the newly-built Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium will make its international debut on Sunday when it hosts the first T20 match between India and Bangladesh. Captain Roop Singh Stadium in the city had hosted Gwalior’s last international match in 2010 when Sachin Tendulkar smashed the first ODI double hundred.
“Only phase 1 of the stadium has been completed now. We will start the second phase as soon as we get the funds from the BCCI. Jay Shah has promised us to give Rs 110 crores to complete phase 2 of this stadium. On our end, we will start our work after the match,” Prashant Mehta, president of the Gwalior Division Cricket Association (GDCA) tells The Indian Express.
The current capacity of the stadium is 30,000 and once phase 2 is completed it will have a total capacity of 55,000.
“It took us seven years to complete this stadium. The stadium is equipped with all the modern facilities. The drainage is top-class. But we need to improve our drainage system outside the stadium as 15 days ago it got flooded after an unprecedented rain,” he says.
This will be the second stadium that the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) will own. The Holkar Stadium located in the heart of Indore has hosted three Test matches and Mehta is confident that in a few years time, Gwalior will host a Test match.
“We would surely want to host a Test here. That’s the ultimate aim,” he says.
“Yes it is a bit far from the city but trust me the craze of cricket here is second to none. In the Madhya Pradesh League final, we announced free entry for fans. Inside the stadium, there were 25,000 people and around 20,000 were outside. We had to request the people to go home as all the seats were occupied.”
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
