BCCI to give INR 100 crore to Rajasthan Cricket Association for world's third largest cricket stadium

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to give a Rs 100 crore infrastructure grant to Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) for helping it build the new stadium in Jaipur. Over the past few years, barring the Indian Premier League (IPL) games, for the Rajasthan Royals (RR), international matches have not taken place much in the city.

If reports are to believed, after the Motera stadium in Ahemadabad and Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia, the upcoming new Jaipur stadium will be the third-largest cricket stadium in the world. The Motera can host up to 1,10,000 capacity crowd and the MCG can fill up to 1,00,000. With RCA set to get 100 crores from the BCCI, the new stadium is planning to fill up to 75,000 people.

The association has received the lease of 100-acre land for the same. According to various news sources, Vaibhav Gehlot, the current President of Rajasthan Cricket Association received the letter of lease himself by Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) Commissioner Gaurav Goyal. The overall cost of the stadium is estimated to be around INR 300 crore. The land is located in Chomp Village on the outskirts of the city situated at Delhi Road.

Construction to start soon

The stadium construction will start in the months of August or September this year. RCA is aiming to arrange another INR 100 crore through bank loans with other money, reportedly being arranged by selling the corporate boxes at the venue.

Now the association can hope to tap more local talent in and around the smaller cities located within Jaipur. Apart from cricket, the stadium will have top-notch facilities like indoor games, sports training academies, a clubhouse, and huge parking space which can accommodate up to 4000 vehicles.

The majority of the matches were played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. It had a capacity of only 30,000 people and the pitch only used to assist batters. The last ODI was played in 2013 between India and Australia and since then no international match has been played in Jaipur, barring a handful of IPL games.

With the announcement from BCCI, the RCA will now hope for more cricketing action.