President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the newly revamped Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, which has been renamed the Narendra Modi Stadium. The ground, which was earlier named the Sardar Patel Stadium, and more popularly known as the Motera stadium, has been renamed after the Prime Minister, who was also formerly a president of the Gujarat Cricket Association. Home Minister Amit Shah and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, along with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah, were also present at the event. India-England day-night test is currently under way in the stadium. The stadium will be a part of the planned Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel sports enclave in Ahmedabad.
"This stadium was conceptualised by PM Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was president of the Gujarat Cricket Association at that time," President Kovind said in his address after the inauguration. "This stadium is an example of eco-friendly development," he added. The stadium can accommodate 1,32,000 spectators. This will be the world's biggest sports stadium," Home Minister Amit Shah said at the event. "Coupled with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave and Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, a sports complex will also be built in Naranpura. These three will be equipped to host any international sports event," he said. "Ahmedabad will be known as the 'sports city' of India," he added. "Olympic Games can also be held here," Shah said about the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave.
"Not just for cricket but it's a proud moment for India. Besides being the largest cricket stadium, it's also one of the most modern stadiums in the world," Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said earlier. The stadium recently held the knockout stages of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The new stadium was formally opened when the former US president Donald Trump visited India a year ago and a full house witnessed as Modi and Trump held the stage together.
The stadium took three years to build at an estimated cost of about £79 million. Its facilities are second to none: indoor, outdoor nets of the highest quality, with a variety of pitch surfaces; four changing rooms, each equipped with its own gym, and surround LED flood lights to eliminate shadows on the field of play. The original vision was Modi’s, but the undertaking was the work of Amit Shah. The VIP entrance emphasises these associations and consists of two rows of giant photographs: on the bottom row, there are images of India’s great cricketing moments — the 1983 and 2011 World Cup wins — and great players. In the row above them are images of Modi and the Shahs – Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah.
The L&T took over the construction work of the new stadium in December 2016. Finishing touches were given to the stadium in February 2020. Mumbai-based commercial kitchen consultants "Span Asia" were hired to work with Populous and L&T on all the F&B related areas such as the concession counters, main stadium kitchens, player kitchens, VIP/VVIP boxes, corporate boxes, press & media boxes, pantries, GCA Club and related areas.
The redesigned stadium occupies 63 acres of land, with three entry points compared to one in the old stadium, with a metro line at one of the entry points. It contains 76 corporate boxes that can hold 25 persons each, a 55-room clubhouse, an Olympic sized swimming pool, and four dressing rooms. A unique feature of the stadium is the LED lights on the roof instead of the usual floodlights at cricket grounds. The roof was done by the company Walter P Moore and was specifically designed to be lightweight and separate from the seating bowls in order to make it fairly earthquake resistant. The structure eliminates the need for pillars and gives spectators an unobstructed view of the entire field from any place in the Stadium.
Outside of the main ground, the stadium is able to accommodate several other features, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an indoor cricket academy, badminton and tennis courts, a squash arena, a table tennis area, a 3D projector theater, and a clubhouse with three practice grounds and 50 rooms. The parking lot can accommodate 3,000 cars and 10,000 two-wheelers. Sardar Patel Stadium also has a huge ramp designed to facilitate the movement of around 60,000 people simultaneously. The stadium has been designed such that patrons fill the lower levels of the ground for smaller events to maintain the crowd atmosphere when not at capacity.