2023 ODI World Cup venues | Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad — capacity, pitch info and areas that need attention Premium

Hyderabad Cricket Association will host a World Cup match after a gap of 27 years. The last World Cup match in the city was when West Indies took on Zimbabwe at the floodlit Lal Bahadur Stadium.

Hyderabad Cricket Association will host a World Cup match after a gap of 27 years. The last World Cup match in the city was when West Indies took on Zimbabwe at the floodlit Lal Bahadur Stadium.

For a long time, LB Stadium, or Fateh Maidan as it was more popularly called, was the main hub of cricketing activity even with the HCA office located on the premises.

But, the construction of the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium at Uppal, which was then on the outskirts of the city, has changed the contours of hosting national and international matches in terms of world-class facilities for the players, officials and the spectators.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the best playfields, especially the playing area that matches the best across the country. So much so that the groundstaff, first mentored by ‘Pipe’ Gopal and later headed by the BCCI curator Y.L. Chandrasekhar, has won ‘The Best Curator’ award twice in the high-profile IPL.

For the record, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, which was match-ready in 2006, hosted five Tests, seven ODIs and three T20Is, besides the finals of IPL 2017 and 2019.

K. Durga Prasad, the retired IPS officer who is assisting the Supreme Court-appointed Single Judge Justice (Retd) Avula Nageswara Rao to run the administration of HCA till the “impasse is resolved in the Association,” is leaving no stone unturned in making sure that the venue should not only be the most player-friendly but also spectator-friendly.

“We have initiated a lot of measures to give the Stadium a new look for the World Cup matches,” he said.