BCCI will let followers again in stadium for Motera Test on Feb 24

SIGNALLING CRICKET’S full unlockdown, the BCCI will enable spectators within the stands for the third Test between India and England from February 24 to twenty-eight on the refurbished Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium at Motera close to Ahmedabad, The Indian Express has learnt.
This may presumably be the primary time that the cricket board is opening the doorways of a stadium for the general public in a world recreation after the Covid outbreak early final yr. The India-England sequence will begin in Chennai on February 5 behind closed doorways, and there may be nonetheless no readability on the presence of followers for the second Test on the similar venue.
The pandemic had seen cricket take a break with the final house Test in opposition to Bangladesh in November 2019. The pink-ball day-night Test at Motera will even be the primary worldwide recreation on the new stadium the place capability has been elevated to 1,10,000, making it the largest on this planet.
To mark the event, The Indian Express has learnt that the BCCI has prolonged invites to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda and Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who’s the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) president, can be prone to be current. The stadium will host the fourth and closing Test of the sequence and 5 T20 video games to observe. The GCA can be the house affiliation of Shah’s son and BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

“As the seating capacity is more than a lakh, the GCA can easily accommodate 50 per cent crowds for the third and fourth Tests. The Government has allowed sports stadiums to run with 50 per cent capacity so it has been decided to allow fans for the matches in Ahmedabad. The media will also be able to cover the game from the stadium,” mentioned a BCCI supply.

If Modi arrives for the sport, it would mark a return for him to the venue of the ‘Namaste Trump’ rally a yr in the past when the previous United States president visited the nation.