AHMEDABAD: Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, the largest cricket stadium in the world with a seating capacity of 1.32 lakh people and the second largest stadium overall after the Rungrado stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, has been renamed as the Narendra Modi Stadium after the Prime Minister. 

Coincidently, exactly on the same day February 24, last year Prime Minister had hosted former US President Donald Trump at the stadium with a mega event called ‘Namaste Trump’ that was attended by near one lakh people.

The rebuilt stadium which is a part of the proposed, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave, was today formally inaugurated by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, who is the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

President Kovind did the bhumi pujan, (laid the foundation stone) for the enclave which will be spread over 220 acres on the Sabarmati river bank in the north east area of Ahmedabad, and will house several athletics, track and field sports arenas including a football stadium, a field hockey and tennis stadium, indoor sports halls and swimming pool.

Shah said that the stadium was a dream project of the PM, after the completion of the enclave Ahmedabad will become the city with state-of-the-art sports infrastructure of international standards.

Addressing the gathering at the inauguration, President Kovind said that this stadium was conceptualized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat and president of the Gujarat Cricket Association at that time

The enclave owned by the Gujarat Cricket Association was constructed in 1983 and was first renovated in 2006 and was a regular venue for international matches in the city. In 2015, the stadium was closed and demolished before being completely rebuilt by February 2020, with an estimated cost of ₹800 crore.

It has hosted matches during the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and as of 2020, the stadium has hosted 12 Tests, 23 ODIs, and 1 T20Is matches.