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Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar presented Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a Team India jersey in Varanasi. The Prime Minister was there in his constituency to lay the foundation stone for an international cricket stadium in Varanasi, along with CM Yogi Adityanath.
The Prime Minister officially laid the cornerstone for the international stadium, ending a 95-year wait for the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association to have its own stadium. The stadium will be leased to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the first 30 years after it is finished, which is anticipated to happen in mid-2026. The District Sports Development Committee and the state treasury will each receive 10 lakh annually from the BCCI/UPCA.
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Cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, and Dilip Vengsarkar, among others, are attending the ceremony. Tendulkar gifted the Indian Prime Minister the latest jersey of the Indian team, which will be worn at the 2023 ODI World Cup. The cricketers earlier visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the city.
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The international cricket stadium, to be built in Ganjari, Rajatalab, will be developed on more than 30 acres of land at a cost of about INR 450 crore. The Uttar Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has spent INR 121 crore on acquiring the land, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will spend around INR 331 crore on this project.
The thematic architecture of the stadium is inspired by Lord Shiva, with a crescent-shaped roof covering, trident-shaped floodlights, ghat-stepped seating, and bilvapatra-shaped metal sheets on the facade.
