Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, formerly Ekana International Cricket Stadium, and commonly known as Ekana Cricket Stadium, is a cricket stadium in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

in India. It is a stadium under public-private partnership and is a venue for

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

, ODI,

T20I A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

and for many other domestic tournament cricket matches. With a seating capacity of 50,000, it became the fifth largest international cricket stadium in India. Formerly known as the Ekana International Cricket Stadium, it was later renamed after

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

, a former

Indian Prime Minister The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

. The stadium has the longest straight boundaries in comparison to all the stadiums in India. It serves as the home ground for the

Uttar Pradesh cricket team The Uttar Pradesh cricket team, formerly United Provinces Cricket Team, is a domestic cricket team which is based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, run by the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association. The team competes in the first-class cricket to ...

and it is also going to serve as the home ground for the

IPL The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

franchise

Lucknow Super Giants Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) is a franchise cricket team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. They play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Lucknow franchise formed in 2021. Sanjeev Goenka is its principal owner. The team is captained by KL Rahu ...

from 2023 season. In July 2019,

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

(BCCI) approved it as the third home ground in India for

Afghanistan national cricket team The Afghanistan men's national team ( ps, د افغانستان کرکټ ملي لوب‌‌‌‌‌‌ډله, fa, تیم ملی کریکت افغانستان) represents Afghanistan in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Afgha ...

History

Before its international debut, it also hosted the final of the 2017–18 Duleep Trophy. On 6 November 2018, the stadium hosted its first international match, a

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) between India and the West Indies, becoming the 52nd stadium in India to host an international cricket match. In that match

Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mumbai ...

became the first cricketer to score four centuries in T20Is.

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

won that match by 71 runs. The last time Lucknow hosted an international match was in January 1994, when India played a test match against Sri Lanka at the K.D. Singh Babu Stadium. In May 2019, Afghanistan Cricket Board requested the BCCI to use this venue for their international matches. In August 2019, BCCI awarded the venue to

as their third home venue in India, being previously played in

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

and

Greater Noida Greater Noida is a Planned community, planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city was created as an extension to Noida, Noida area under the ''UP Industrial Area Development Act, 1976''. ...

. It hosted all the matches during Afghanistan vs West Indies series in 2019. On 6 November 2019, the venue hosted its first ODI match. On 27 November 2019, the venue hosted its first Test match. In May 2022, the venue was scheduled to host all the matches of the fourth edition of

Women's T20 Challenge The Women's T20 Challenge was an Indian women's cricket Twenty20 tournament that was held between 2018 and 2022. The tournament featured three teams, playing a round-robin group followed by a final. IPL Supernovas were the most successful team ...

. However, later the matches were shifted to

Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium is a cricket stadium situated in the city of Pune, India besides the Pune Mumbai Expressway nestled between the hills of the Western Ghats. It is the home venue for the Maharashtra cricket team and is ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. The stadium has been considered to host the home matches of the

franchise

from 2023 season.

BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the worl ...

announced that the old ''home and away format'' is going to be back in the league from 2023 as it was before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

in 2019 season.

Events hosted

The stadium has hosted two major events organized by the government.

Award giving ceremony

On 19 August 2021, an award giving ceremony was held at the stadium by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...

to honor the athletes who won the medals at

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

that was held in 2021 at

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. They all were facilitated with monetary rewards given by the

Uttar Pradesh government The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...

. The highest prize was given to the Niraj Chopra who was the only one from India to won gold medal in

Javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

Oath-taking ceremony

On 25 March 2022, the venue hosted the oath taking ceremony of

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

, Shri Yogi Adityanath and his ministers of the consecutive second ministry after the historic win in

2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh from 2022 elections in India, 10 February to 7 March 2022 in seven phases to elect all List of constituencies of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 403 m ...

s. The oath was given by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Anandiben Patel Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel (born 21 November 1941) is an Indian politician serving as the current Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She also served as Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Governor of Chhattisgarh. She has served as the first female Chief ...

. Many VVIP's, celebrities, big businessmen were invited in the ceremony including the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Shri Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

Union Home Minister The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...

, Shri Amit Shah and the Chief Ministers of various big and

NDA NDA may stand for: Military * National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India * National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military * National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan * Nig ...

led Indian states.

International Records at the venue

List of international centuries

Tests

Only one Test century has been scored at the venue.

One Day Internationals

Only one ODI century has been scored at the venue.

Twenty20 Internationals

Only one T20I century has been scored at the venue.

Women's One Day Internationals

Only one WODI century has been scored at the venue.

List of international five-wicket hauls

Tests

T20Is

Gallery

References

{{Lucknow 2017 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Sports venues in Lucknow Memorials to Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sports venues completed in 2017 Test cricket grounds in India

History

Events hosted

Award giving ceremony

Oath-taking ceremony

International Records at the venue

List of international centuries

Tests

One Day Internationals

Twenty20 Internationals

Women's One Day Internationals

List of international five-wicket hauls

Tests

T20Is

Gallery

See also

References