Karayavattom Green Field stadium in Kerala to be inspected by the ICC

Trivandrum International Stadium or Green Field Stadium might get an international status soon as the International Cricket Council (ICC) is scheduled to inspect the ground. Led by Amitabh Chaudhary, the secretary of BCCI, a team visited the Stadium and was satisfied by the arrangements and awaits the ICC report as BCCI operation GM M V Sridhar said that the decision could only be taken after the ICC inspection which will take place in July.

Green Field Stadium is located in Kariavattom in Thiruvananthapuram city in the state of Kerala. It is a multipurpose Stadium mostly used for association football games and cricket. The Stadium took three years to be built and was opened in January 2015. With a 50,000 seating capacity, it has enough seats to accommodate spectators for international matches.

First DBOT model

The Stadium, which cost Rs 240 crores for construction, is India’s first DBOT (Design, Build, Operate and Transfer) model. This ground has already hosted first-class cricket and immediately went down in history as Delhi’s Rishabh Pant scored the fastest century in the history of Ranji Trophy cricket when he scored a 48-ball hundred against Jharkhand. The city of Thiruvananthapuram was treated to first-class cricket after a drought spell of 18 years.

The operator of the ground – Kariyavattom Sports Facilities Limited (KSFL) – have given the facility on lease to the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA). The KCA, apart from domestic cricket, also hopes to host IPL as well as ODI games soon.

KCA is keen to get an international status for this newly built Stadium as the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, which has hosted 18 ODIs till date, would now be made available for football games as per the agreement between KCA and Kerala Football Association.

The Green Field Stadium is the most reasonable choice for hosting international games in the state of Kerala, provided that the ICC team is satisfied by the arrangements when they give it a visit in July later this year.