Narendra Modi Stadium (Ahmedabad) Pitch Report, Results & Stats

Narendra Modi Stadium – Ahmedabad

The Narendra Modi Stadium is one of the largest stadiums in the world which is located in Motera, near Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The stadium has been built where earlier the Sardar Patel Stadium existed. In 2021, the pink ball Test between India and England was the first international fixture hosted by the stadium. The stadium currently serves as the home ground of the Hardik Pandya led Indian T20 League team Gujarat which also won the trophy at the same venue last year in their first ever appearance in the league.

Nature of the Pitch
The pitch of the newly built Narendra Modi Stadium gets better as the match progresses. In the shortest format, teams have preferred to bowl first after winning the toss and chasing teams have found a lot of success. It is not a batter’s paradise as corroborated by the fact that the average first innings score has been around 155. The average first innings winning score has been 175 in the IIndian T20 League and 188 in T20s since 2021. Pacers have enjoyed greater success on this pitch than spinners when it comes to taking wickets but spinners have received enough assistance from the track to bowl economically.

Even in the three ODIs that have been played on the new pitch, no team has scored more than 265. However, the last Test in the Border Gavaskar Trophy played in March 2023 produced a pitch on which batters piled on the runs.

History
The Sardar Patel Stadium that came up in the early 1980s had a capacity of around 50,000 and hosted its first Test in 1983 when West Indies toured India. It hosted 12 Tests, 23 One Day Internationals, and one T20 between 1982 and 2014. It was closed down for renovation in 2015 and revamping of the stadium began in 2016. Ahead of the Pink-ball Test against England in February 2021, it was renamed the Narendra Modi Stadium after the current Prime Minister of India and ex-Chief Minister of Gujarat. It was inaugurated by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind. Due to the cloud of Covid still hanging over the country, only 50% attendance was allowed for the first match. The Test match was over in just two days as left-arm spinner Axar Patel decimated the English batting lineup with 11 wickets.

Since then it has hosted a number of international fixtures and even the final of the Indian T20 League 2022. The final that was played between Gujarat and Rajasthan was attended by 1,04,859 cricket fans. The stadium will also be hosting the final of the ICC World Cup 2023

General Information about the Stadium
The cricket stadium is a part of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave with facilities for athletics and track and field sports, a football stadium, a field hockey and tennis stadium, indoor sports halls and arenas, velodrome/ skating area, and outdoor fields. The enclave is spread over 220 acres on the Sabarmati river bank in the north east area of Ahmedabad.

Upon the stadium’s inauguration, the Gujarat Cricket Association claimed that the seating capacity of the stadium is 1,32,000, making it easily the biggest cricket ground in terms of seating capacity ahead of Australia’s Melbourne Cricket Ground. The two bowling ends of this stadium are called the Adani End and Reliance End. While most parts of the stands are named after Reliance, the 3 premium stands and one of the pavilion ends were named after Adani.

Trivia
The third India-England Test in February 2021 was completed in just 140.2 overs, proving to be the shortest ever Test match involving India in which a result was achieved.
Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma played his 100th Test on this ground when India played England.
India’s Suryakumar Yadav hit the first ever delivery he faced in his international career for a six. The bowler was England’s Jofra Archer.
Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the second quickest to 400 Test wickets when he removed Jofra Archer on day two of the third Test in Ahmedabad in February 2021.