Say hello to Narendra Damodar Modi stadium!
The TLDR: The collapse of England’s batting lineup in the third test at Motera was a bit of a surprise. But it was nothing compared to the shocker that preceded it: The out-of-the-blue renaming of the stadium hosting its inaugural match. We thought it offered a good excuse to take a closer look at the world’s biggest cricket stadium—and the naming practices of powerful people. And it offers a nice change from the usual big stories about rape, sedition, climate change etc:)
Ok, fine, tell me about the stadium
It is located in Motera, Ahmedabad, and here are the basic deets:
Cost: The project cost Rs 8 billion (Rs 800 crores)—and was built by the same company that constructed the gargantuan Statue of Unity (of Sardar Patel) in Narmada Valley.
Capacity: In 2016, the government tore down the old Sardar Patel stadium—which had a capacity of 54,000 spectators. This beauty can hold up to 110,000 spectators. Yup, it’s massive and therefore very noisy, as well, as English fast bowler Stuart Broad noted:
“I have to say that this new stadium at Motera, the biggest in the world, is so impressive that it has a bit of an aura about it even when empty. It’s like a coliseum. I can only imagine what it will be like at 50% capacity, with 55,000 people in, from Wednesday. And with 110,000, at a World Cup match later this year, for example, I don’t know if we would be able to hear ourselves think.”
Point to note: The stadium was jammed to capacity when the PM hosted the ‘Namaste Trump’ extravaganza back in February, 2020. And the crowds sounded like this:
Shape: Unlike most cricket grounds that are round, this one is oval “to ensure that the size of the boundary always remains the same:
"Traditionally on other grounds, when you play a match on pitch 1, one boundary fence is longer and the other shorter, but this is not the case here… Sydney or Melbourne has round shaped grounds. When the pitch is shifted at these grounds, then boundary rope on one side is affected."
Size: It’s the world’s largest cricket stadium—and the second largest sports arena, topped only by The Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, with a seating capacity of 1,14,000. A comparison that may make some go, hmm...
Spread across 63 acres, it has 11 centre pitches, an Olympic-size swimming pool and four dressing rooms, a clubhouse with fifty deluxe rooms and five suites, two outdoor practice grounds with pavilions, and a main ground lit entirely with LED lights.
The aerial view is truly gobsmacking:
And this is a graphical illustration of what it will look like at night:
So, why did we build it?
Well, why not? In 2016, the government gave a simple brief to Larsen & Toubro: sabse bada banao! As ESPNCricInfo reports:
“But when the project to build it began, circa 2016, the brief wasn't necessarily glamour; it was simply to top the Melbourne Cricket Ground's 100,000 seating capacity and build the world's largest stadium, one that could serve as the new home for cricket in India.
‘They wanted it to be the largest—and from 1 lakh in Melbourne, we said, 'Okay, let's go to 1.1 lakh'. And that's how the brief came to us in the form of a tender,’ [an L&T executive said].”
So it’s very big? That’s it?
No, it’s also quite an engineering and design marvel. As L&T executives point out, they were tasked with building a stadium with double the capacity within the existing footprint—which was no mean feat. So L&T hired the same architects—Populous—who built the grand Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
And they’ve managed the near impossible—keeping the range of visibility identical from any part of the stadium:
"Wherever you are in the stadium, you can have a view of the boundary line and beyond—and almost three metres beyond, which is great and not available in a lot of the stadiums. A lot of people don't realise it, but if you're sitting, it's very difficult to get a 360-degree view of the boundary line and beyond from any point of view—whether you are the top or the bottom tier.”
Bonus vid: Here’s a time lapse video of its construction:
Ok, can we talk about the name now?
Ha, yes. The decision to change the name was so carefully kept under wraps that even ANI was taken by surprise. A few hours before the match, it tweeted: “President Ram Nath Kovind to formally inaugurate Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, where pink-ball Test match between India and England will begin today.” But by 1:30 pm, the name change was official. Most people initially thought it was a joke—and the comedy was heightened by the sight of the names assigned to the two bowling ends:
The rationale: for this naam karan is that the PM was president of the Gujarat Cricket Association when this project was conceived. After the inauguration of the stadium, Home Minister Amit Shah said, “We have decided to name it after the country’s Prime Minister. It was Modi-ji’s dream project.” And the PM’s most ardent supporters agreed:
“It’s a proud moment for India. This is Modi’s dream. This is Modi’s vision. He dreamt that he would make a big stadium in Ahmedabad, and now it’s complete.”
Further justifications: offered by the BJP leaders—when they faced a firestorm of criticism for dissing Sardar Patel—included the following:
- Only the stadium has been renamed. It is housed within a bigger sports complex, which still bears the name of Sardar Patel.
- Gujarat’s Deputy Chief Minister went in a different direction: “This stadium is owned by the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and it was always known as the Motera Stadium. So there is no question of renaming it now.”
But this is unusual, na?
Yes, as one political expert told Financial Times: “It’s quite stunning… This is the first time in my memory at least that a living Indian [prime minister] has named a stadium after themselves.”
The better way to get a handle on this is to look at naming precedents.
Politicians: Cricket stadiums in India are most often named after netas—but usually after they are dead. There are many stadiums named after Pandit Nehru (9), Indira Gandhi (3), Rajiv Gandhi (3), Atal Behari Vajpayee (2), EMS Namboodiripad (1)—and most recently Arun Jaitley, when the Delhi Cricket Association renamed Feroz Shah Kotla in his honour, and installed his statue (enraging Bishen Bedi).
Living persons: This isn’t unusual either, as Indian Express notes:
“Mumbai’s Brabourne and Wankhede Stadiums were named after individuals who were alive at the time. The same is the case with Navi Mumbai’s D Y Patil Stadium, Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Chennai’s M A Chidambaram Stadium. Mohali’s PCA Stadium was renamed after former BCCI and Punjab Cricket Association president IS Bindra in 2015.”
But what about ruling netas?
Here it gets a little complicated, but there is still some precedent.
Mayawati: built statues in her honour when she was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Not exactly a stadium, but one can argue it shows the same level of hubris.
US Senators: routinely fund public projects on taxpayer money and have them named after themselves. These tend to be smaller, local buildings in their constituencies. And no sitting US president has ever named a major monument or building after themselves.
Dictators: sadly tend to stamp their name on every available surface. Indian Twitter, of course, reached for Hitler parallels. But to put it in perspective, Turkmenistan's president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov named cities, a theme park, the month of January, and even a meteorite after himself. So this isn’t exactly in the same ballpark… yet.
The bottomline: All things considered, this renaming was unnecessary and likely unwise—more so from a leader who has mocked the Gandhi family for exactly this kind of overkill. But the real point of irony:
“Not one cricket stadium, which has hosted first-class or international matches, is named after a cricketer. There are stadiums that honour politicians, industrialists, administrators, musicians, and even general managers of big corporates.”
Reading list
ESPN CricInfo and The Hindu offer more details on the making of the Motera stadium. Indian Express has a handy list of names of all the cricket stadiums—and who they are named after. Business Standard has the key role Motera will play in the upcoming IPL. And the Press Information Bureau has a PR video that showcases the new stadium.