State capital set to get another cricket ground
LUCKNOW, June 30 -- Two grounds at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket stadium, including an international one, three grounds for domestic matches at the Babu Banarasi Das Stadium, GCRG Ground and the Sports Galaxy Cricket Ground and now another ground for the domestic matches is all set up be inaugurated at the Sports Galaxy Cricket Ground .
With a 70-metre boundary and flood lit, the second ground at the Sports Galaxy Cricket Ground is all set to be unveiled much before this September and if all goes well, it would be hosting the domestic matches for the first time in the upcoming season.
"Yes, we will be requesting the Cricket Association Lucknow to allocate domestic matches to this venue also as within next two months time, everything will be ready here," Subhansh Kumar, one of the directors of the Sports Galaxy Cricket Ground said on Sunday.
"The process to have a flood-lit stadium adjacent to the main cricket ground was on for the last one-an-a-half years and now it's almost complete. We have successfully conducted an U-23 match between Uttar Pradesh and Pondicherry, a Ranji Trophy match between hosts Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and seven Under-23 matches of the women's cricket last season and despite being the first season for us, the response was quite appreciative," said Kumar.
The main stadium at the Sports Galaxy Cricket Ground has seven pitches of black soil besides five practice pitches, whereas the flood-lit stadium has five pitches, all of black soil. "The venue has all facilities to host domestic matches and we have been trying our best to increase the facilities further," said Kumar.
With this set up of a new ground, now the Cricket Association Lucknow will have its ninth centre in the state capital for the conduct of the first-class matches. "We had just three centre wickets earlier but we decided to upgrade it to the BCCI standards only two years ago and so far we have done well as a venue for the domestic matches," said Kumar.
"We have also successfully conducted the training of the local IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants this season, besides hosting many practice sessions of others in the IPL season," he added.
However, Cricket Association Lucknow's secretary KM Khan said with a big number of grounds for the domestic matches, the sporting body will request the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association to allocate matches to them also.
"For the last many years, CAL has been conducting domestic matches quite successfully and with an increase in numbers of grounds for the domestic matches, it's good for the game not only in Lucknow but in Uttar Pradesh also," KM Khan said on Sunday.
It is learnt that Northern Railway Stadium in Charbagh was the first one to host a first-class match in 1943. The La Mariniere College ground hosted three first-class matches, Gomti ground hosted a Test match between India and Pakistan, KD Singh 'Babu Stadium witnessed 21 first-class matches, including a Test match between India and Sri Lanka, whereas Chowk Stadium conducted just one first-class match.
Even the BBD stadium has so far conducted seven first-class matches whereas one of the most beautiful stadiums in India, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, has also hosted almost two dozen domestic matches besides a number of big matches including five matches of the Cricket World Cup....
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