The Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex or Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground is a cricket and association football stadium. Which hosted many popular matches It has the home ground of the Afghanistan national cricket team. In 2017, it lost its status to hold any matches organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after it held a private league when not permitted by the BCCI. We are going to unravel all the reasons behind the controversy, its renowned matches, and more.
Read About Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground
The stadium is named after Vijay Singh Pathik, Mr. Vijay is a revolutionary who fought against British rule For India’s Independence. The stadium conforms to the specifications set by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Including media and corporate boxes, medical facilities, merchandise stores, a food court, an information kiosk, and several other facilities.
The Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground came out as a “Center of Excellence”. This will ensure that sports facilities, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, football ground, cricket ground, are available to sports lovers.
The upgrade work on the complex is expect to begin in late July or August. In July, the authority may finalize the company that will run the facility. The authority wants to host T20 cricket tournaments. For which it will increase the seating capacity of the cricket stadium from 8,000 to 20,000.
Historical Evolution Of Greater Noida Stadium
Rajeev Shukla, secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association, said in November 2009 that Jaypee Group. Which is developing a sports city in Greater Noida. Is building a cricket stadium there and the UPCA has already signed a fifty-year agreement with them to host matches. At that time he said that the stadium would be ready by 2011 and it would host Twenty20 and One Day Internationals. Initially, the stadium will have a spectator capacity of 40,000 which will increased to 100,000 later.
The stadium had discussions with the ICC to host Tests and One Day Internationals. Earlier, the stadium was eligible to host all matches except Tests and ODIs. But later confirmed to host any international match.
It also the home ground of the Afghanistan cricket team. However, the stadium’s seating capacity is currently 8,000 and there are no plans to increase it to the initially planned capacity. Shukla said that they were ready to lease the Green Park stadium from the state government. But they were not successful in convincing the authorities. He said that they are looking for land between Kanpur and Lucknow to build their own stadium. It has built as per the latest specifications and guidelines of the ICC. And has name Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex. The stadium has all the facilities like floodlights, bowling alley, indoor stadium, lawn tennis courts in the complex. The stadium is located near YMCA and Jaypee Resorts in Greater Noida. The first Ranji Trophy match was play in this stadium between the Uttar Pradesh cricket team and Baroda cricket team from 1 to 4 December 2015. Greater Noida has hosted the 2016 Duleep Trophy matches and all the matches were play with a pinball.
Afghanistan’s Home Ground
The stadium became the home ground of the Afghanistan cricket team. When they decided to shift their home ground from Sharjah. The stadium hosted the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup match between Afghanistan cricket team and Namibia cricket team in April 2016. In which Afghanistan beat Namibia by an innings and 36 runs.
On 25 July 2016, it was announce that Afghanistan would host a full series against Ireland at this stadium. Apart from the 4-day Intercontinental Cup match, Ireland and Afghanistan played 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is in March 2017. Afghanistan won both the T20I series 3–0 and the ODI series 3–2.
The ground is also set to host its first Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand in September 2024. However, the Test was called off without a ball being bowled due to a wet outfield on the first and second days and then heavy rain. This eighth instance of a Test match being called off without a ball being bowled.
December 2015
The venue hosted its first match affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The home team, Uttar Pradesh, played against Baroda in the 2015/16 Ranji Trophy encounter. The match contained many renowned Indian Players-Hardik Pandya, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla. The game ended in a quiet draw with UP getting three points based on their first innings lead.
A week later, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) and BCCI signed. A Memorandum of Understanding with GNIDA to use the venue as Afghanistan’s home ground.
August/September 2016
The BCCI continued to host domestic cricket at the venue, hosting the entire 2016 Duleep Trophy. Four day-night first-class matches played between India Blue, India Red and India Green, with the Blue team winning the trophy. Players like Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja were seen in the final match.
This was the first time the BCCI test the pink ball in the country. Which brought Greater Noida into the limelight.
December 2016
The International Cricket Council (ICC) approved the stadium to stage international matches between full members. The ICC team, led by match referee Jeff Crowe, inspected the pitch and other facilities including floodlights, dressing rooms and seating areas before giving their approval.
March 2017
Afghanistan hosted Ireland for three T20Is and five ODIs at the Greater Noida Stadium. Afghanistan played two ICC Intercontinental Cup matches against Namibia and Ireland the following month. These were two four-day red-ball matches, both of which Afghanistan won by an innings.
September 2017
The stadium first suffered a setback when the BCCI blacklisted the venue for hosting an unauthorized private competition (North India Champions League) which also faced allegations of match-fixing. However, in 2019, the Delhi and District Cricket Association organized a Cooch Behar Trophy game between Delhi Under-19s and Haryana Under-19s. Afghanistan also played three T20Is against Ireland in 2020.
2024, Afghanistan vs New Zealand Test
Afghanistan announced a one-off Test against New Zealand in Greater Noida. This was Afghanistan’s 10th Test match and for New Zealand. It was a precursor to their two-match Test series in Sri Lanka followed by a three-Test series in India. Both teams are schedule for their next international assignments on September 18 (Afghanistan: Three ODIs against South Africa, New Zealand: Two Tests in Sri Lanka). With the time from September 9 to 13 being the only window despite rain forecast throughout the week.
Unknown Facts About Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground
Let’s dive deep into the details of the cricket stadium in Noida Sector 150 that will soon packed with cricket fans and cricketers.
- Also, the minimum playing area is expect to be 150 yards or 137.6 meters from the boundary to the boundary square of the pitch.
- There will be a gap of five yards between the advertisement boards or surrounding fences and the rope. Most importantly, the straight boundary from either end of the pitch will be 64 meters or a minimum of 70 yards.
- The developers are planning to provide the players with the largest playing area by ensuring that each boundary is not more than 82.9 meters or 90 yards away from the center of the pitch.
- The project to develop a cricket stadium in Noida Sector 150 will be a private endeavor unlike the proposed cricket stadiums in Varanasi and Ghaziabad.
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