VCA Stadium in Nagpur set to host its 10th T20I

The Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur is all in readiness to host its 10th Twenty20 International in as many months with India scheduled to take on the visiting England side in the second match of the ongoing series on Sunday. In March 2016, the Jamtha Stadium, situated far from the city, hosted as many as nine T20 Internationals, most of them in the initial stage of the ICC World T20 Championship.

Interestingly, among the nine matches, only one game featured India, against New Zealand. India lost that game but managed to buck up and reach the semi-final of the World T20 2016. Two other league matches were also played during the World T20. West Indies locked horns with South Africa and associates Afghanistan were up against the mighty Caribbean team. Darren Sammy & Co. probably went too easy in the game and were beaten by the enthusiastic boys from Afghanistan.

In December 2009, the venue had hosted its debut T20 International between India and Sri Lanka which the islanders won. Team India will be desperate to break the jinx and level the series before boarding the flight to Bengaluru for the 3rd and final T20I on 1st February. The second game is set to start at 7:00 pm, as against the 4:30 pm start at Kanpur in the first T20I, but the dew factor is expected to come into play, though on a minor scale.

“There will be some dew but may not be to the extent it was feared in Kanpur, and that’s why it’s a 7 pm start,” VCA sources were quoted by PTI.

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The stadium is quite far from the main city and did not attract huge spectator interest during the last few Test matches that were played here – against England in 2012 and South Africa in 2015. “The stadium has a capacity of nearly 45,000 out of which all tickets for the game have been sold out barring tickets of higher denomination – Rs 6,000, 8,000 and 10,000 – numbering 1,956,” VCA sources added.

The association has also announced the provisions for the online ticket purchasers. “On the last occasion there were some unruly scenes created by the online ticket holders at Jamtha, so this time we are making it clear that ticket counters will be open only at the Civil Lines stadium of VCA between 9 am and 4 pm, even on the day of the match,”