Lucknowites finally got some good news when Ekana Sportz City private limited started the construction of a new International stadium in Lucknow from 2013. The stadium was a hope for the cricket lovers in the city to see their favourite superstars infront of their eyes. Its worth mentioning that Lucknow contested an International match way back in 1994 at the KD Singh Babu stadium which is not an International venue anymore. However, the construction of Ekana stadium and the first Ranji encounter between Andhra and Hyderabad in 2016 gave a ray of hope to the fans in the city.
In 2017, the stadium hosted Duleep trophy which had some superstar players in the line-up which was again a dream come true for the cricket lovers in the city. The stadium was in the race to be made the home ground of Delhi Daredevils or Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2018 but due to unavailability of certain facilities, the franchise didn’t show their interest in the stadium and the cricket lovers had to be content with watching the game on their television set.
Still waiting for an International match, BCCI finally had a good news for Lucknow as they announced the second T20 between India and West Indies to be played in the city. There was a huge demand of tickets on the online platform and the big queues outside the stadium for the counter tickets spoke what this game means to the spectators in the city.
Name of the stadium changed before the match
Meanwhile before the start of the match, Housing and Urban Planning Department Principal Secretary Nitin Ramesh Gokarn brought the proposal of changing the name of the stadium to “‘Bharat Ratan Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Antar-rashtriya Cricket Stadium” which was approved by Governor Ram Naik.
“As per the Article 17.5.1 of the concession agreement between Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), Ekana Sportz City Pvt Ltd and GC Constructions and Development Industries Pvt Ltd, after giving it proper thoughts the Governor has happily accepted the proposal to change name of the international cricket stadium, situated in the Sector 7 of Gomti Nagar Extension, to Bharat Ratan Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Antar-rashtriya Cricket Stadium,” the government notice said.
Not to forget, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the member of parliament from Lucknow and he often said that Lucknow is like his home. The former Prime Minister passed away this August in New Delhi.
