Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium or SVP Stadium for short, sometimes referred as ''Sports Club of Gujarat Stadium''; is an Indian sports

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

located in the

Navrangpura Navarangpura, also spelled Navrangpura, is an area in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. The neighborhood was one of the first to be developed outside of the Old City. Navrangpura, along with residential societies, houses many cafes and res ...

district of

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The stadium hosted the first

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

match played in India. It is owned by

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) was established in July 1950 under the Bombay Provincial Corporation Act (1949), is responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Ahmedabad. History On 21 April 1831, the collec ...

. It is mainly used for

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, but it has also played host to a number of events arranged by the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

History

In the early 1950s, the province of Bombay gifted of land to the Cricket Club of Ahmedabad (CCA) to construct a cricket stadium and a clubhouse. CCA handed over the project as well as the land to the

(AMC) at a token price. It was agreed to have separate management for the Stadium and the Club House and that the original members of the CCA would form a new club, christened The Sports Club of Gujarat Ltd. Sheth Chinubhai Chimanbhai, a leading industrialist and then Mayor of Ahmedabad, hired architect

Charles Correa Charles Mark Correa (1 September 1930 – 16 June 2015) was an Indian architect and urban planner based in Mumbai, India. Credited with the creation of modern architecture in post-Independent India, he was celebrated for his sensitivity to the ...

to design both the stadium and the clubhouse. The early idea for the construction of the stadium was conceived and structural engineer Mahendra Raj served as the consulting engineer. The construction of the SVP stadium began in 1959. Due to financial issues, the stadium was partially completed in 1966 with only a roof-covered south pavilion. Later the stands around the entire stadium were built by the 1980s.

Cricket

The stadium hosted its only

(ODI) match and first played in

on 25 November 1981. The match was played between

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The match was reduced to 46 overs. India scored 156 for 7.

Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was considered to have a very good drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Indian batting li ...

top scored with 46 runs. England replied with 160 for 5 and won the match by five wickets and 13 balls to spare.

Mike Gatting Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test ma ...

and

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of ...

were unbeaten on 47 and 25 respectively. Once Motera stadium came up in

Motera Motera is a neighbourhood in the northwestern part of the metropolis of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. It lies west of the Sabarmati River. It falls under the West Zone of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and under the Gandhinagar South constituency ...

in 1982, the stadium has not been used for international cricket matches. The Motera Stadium now hosts all ODI matches and

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

in the city. The Motera stadium was rebuilt in 2020 and renamed

Narendra Modi Stadium Narendra Modi Stadium is a cricket ground in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. With a total capacity of 132,000, it is the List of stadiums by capacity, world's largest stadium. It is owned by the Gujarat Cricket Association, and hosts both domestic ...

Indian Cricket League

During 2008 season of

Indian Cricket League The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a short-lived cricket league that ran from 2007 to 2009. It was sponsored by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, a media company. The ICL had two seasons, featuring four international teams and nine domestic teams ...

(ICL), the stadium was chosen as one of the venues for the tournament, other venues being Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Panchkula. Prior to the tournament, the ICL spent 100 million (10 crore) for renovation of the stadium and 30-40 million for floodlights, apart from improving the pitch, outfield, and dressing rooms. The stadium hosted 12 matches during the T20 tournament. The stadium was scheduled to host all seven matches of ICL World Series, but the tournament was canceled after four matches due to the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Recreational use

The stadium is a popular place for recreational use including hosting political and religious events as well as concerts. The stadium hosted the Swarnim Gujarat Fest, the golden jubilee celebrations of the foundation of Gujarat, on 30 April and 1 May 2010. The stadium was renovated at the cost of . The event was attended by thousands. The seating arena was closed in 2020 and was opened for the 11th edition of Khel Mahakhumb, state level multi-sports tournament in March 2022, after repairs.

Restoration proposal

In July 2020, the

Getty Foundation The Getty Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, at the Getty Center, awards grants for "the understanding and preservation of the visual arts".Getty FoundationAbout the Foundation. Retrieved September 18, 2008. In the past, it funded the ...

announced that SVP Stadium was one of 13 significant twentieth-century buildings in the world and announced a grant. In 2022,

World Monuments Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training ...

(WMF) and National Centre for Safety of Heritage Structures, Department of Civil Engineering at

Indian Institute of Technology Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...

submitted the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for the stadium to AMC in March 2023. The stadium was also included in the 2020 World Monuments Watch. The repair and restoration is estimated to cost . There were reports of its demolition proposal to make space for a new stadium under the master plan for Gujarat's bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics. Another proposal was to retain the stadium and build additional sports facilities for the Olympics.

Architecture

The stadium is spread over an area of 67,000 square metres. It used a complex folded plate structural system, the first such building in India. The folded plate cantilever roof above the pavilion was 20 m wide and 326 feet long. It was made of reinforced cement concrete and was the longest such span in the world in 1963. The exterior has geometric concrete frames which creates open space below the seats for the spectators. The stadium has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 40,000 to 50,000 spectators.sportsclub
/ref> It is equipped with floodlights for day-and-night games.

Home ground

The stadium is one of the home grounds of the

Gujarat cricket team The Gujarat cricket team is one of three first-class cricket teams based on the state of Gujarat (the other two being the Baroda cricket team and Saurashtra cricket team). Led by Parthiv Patel, Gujarat won their maiden Ranji Trophy title in th ...

that plays in the domestic tournament of

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

. It is a regular venue during the Indian domestic cricket season.

References

External links

ESPNcricinfo Website - Ground Page

Cricruns.com - Ground Details

{{coord missing, Gujarat Cricket grounds in Gujarat Sports venues in Ahmedabad Charles Correa buildings Indian Cricket League stadiums Sports venues completed in 1960 1960 establishments in Gujarat 20th-century architecture in India Brutalist architecture in India