With Ranji Game, Lucknow Set To Become New Sports Hub

Lucknow will on Wednesday take a major step towards becoming the latest sports hub of India when the Andhra and Hyderabad teams lock horns in a Ranji Trophy match, the first first-class encounter to be staged at the brand new, floodlit Ekana International Cricket Stadium.

No, not because the stadium will be making its debut, thus becoming the sixth first-class cricket venue of the ‘City of Nawabs’, but because of a grand sports infrastructure that is coming up fast over 71-acre land, called Ekana Sportz City.

“We have big plans for sports events in Lucknow. And once the sports complex is complete, the city will become a major stop in the sports calendar of the country. The cricket stadium is just the beginning,” Uday Sinha, Managing Director of Ekana Sportz City, told Outlook from Lucknow.

Sinha said that apart from the cricket stadium, the Ekana Sportz City will have an air-conditioned multi-sports indoor stadium with 2,500 seats. This will have several squash courts, badminton courts, and volleyball courts. A football stadium is also being built, as per FIFA specifications and with a seating capacity of 30,000, with athletic track surrounding it. Also, there will be lawn tennis courts, swimming pool, jogging track, and cycling track. A boys’ and girls’ sports academies, with residential facility, is also part of the blue print of the Ekana Sportz City.

Sinha said that ISL team Delhi Dynamos have already entered into an agreement with Ekana Sportz City to use the facility when ready. “ISL matches are expected to be played at our football stadium from 2018,” he said.

It is learnt that IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils have also shown interest in cricket stadium. A source said and they could either hold pre-IPL camps or even play a few IPL matches in Lucknow. “UPCA secretary Rajeev Shukla, who is also chairman of the IPL governing council, recently visited the stadium and he dropped hints that a couple of IPL 2017 matches could be staged at this stadium,” said a source. “If not in 2017, IPL matches would surely be staged in 2018.”

The Uttar Pradesh state government, which has leased the land to the consortium that is constructing the sports city, and the UPCA have already entered into an agreement to stage cricket matches at the stadium, located in Gomti Nagar Extension.

Being built on the public private partnership (PPP) model, Ekana Sportz City Pvt Ltd is a joint venture of Nagarjuna Construction Company, GC Construction & Development Industries Pvt Ltd, and the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).

The cricket stadium is being built at a cost Rs 360 crore and will have a seating capacity of 50,000. It will have all the modern facilities and gadgets, including the floodlights, as per the International Cricket Council stipulations.

“The stadium is ready for first-class cricket. A BCCI inspection team visited the stadium and approved the ground. I gather that the committee was of the view that once complete it would be one of the best in India,” Sinha said.

Although some work is still left in the stadium, it has already put in place all the required facilities to host first-class matches and the BCCI has approved the venue. The venue has two sets of dressing rooms, one for international matches and the other for other first-class games.

“Two dressing rooms are at the ground level for Ranji Trophy and other matches while the other two, VIP dressing rooms are built on a pedestal, with dining rooms, spa, gymnasiums in the same area, which is quite big. The two teams occupying these will have separate entry, exit, as well as elevators,” said Sinha.

One of the outstanding features of the stadium is that it is pillar-less, which means that spectators will be able to enjoy action without any hindrance in front.

Another one is the centre ‘square’, which comprises nine pitches. Five of these have been prepared with red soil brought from Kalyan in Maharashtra, and the other have the red soil brought from Orissa, informs former Punjab wicket-keeper Daljit Singh, head of the BCCI pitches and grounds committee. Pitches prepared with different soils behave differently.

Daljit, a former Ranji Trophy record holder of maximum dismissals, points to the large outfield. “The side boundaries are 87 yards long. And out of the nine pitches, five could be used for matches without comprising the radius of side boundaries, as we have installed cable boxes in those five pitches for broadcasters,” Dalit, who has been involved in the stadium since beginning of the project in March 2015. told Outlook. The minimum straight boundaries are 65 yards.

The other unique feature of the stadium are the powerful water guns, which have been imported from Italy and each one can throw water up to a distance of 75 metres. The drainage system, which is so crucial in times of rains, is also state-of-the-art, and so is the ‘intelligent security system’. These CCTVs would be able to read the density, count vehicles and people. Spectators will have to pass through turnstiles.

As per the agreement between the Uttar Pradesh government and the construction, Ekana Sportz City is being developed on a 35-year lease, till July 2052. In addition to that, the LDA has provided the consortium 66 acres land for real estate project on a 99-year lease. As per this agreement, the consortium will also build a five-star hotel, residential flats, a hospital, an educational institution, and a commercial complex.

“The overall budget for the grand project is Rs 540 crore, out of which Rs 360 crore is earmarked for the cricket stadium,” said Sinha. “The budget for the football stadium is Rs 300 crore, but that is separate and the state government will pay that amount.”
Lucknow has so far two Test matches, both on different grounds – between India and Pakistan at the Gomti Ground in 1952, and between India and Sri Lanka in 1994 at the K.D. Singh 'Babu' Stadium.

Who knows, once the Ekana International Cricket Stadium is complete, it may well host Test matches, too, besides One-day Internationals and T20 Internationals.