Published 13:38 IST, December 2nd 2019
Sourav Ganguly aims for Asia XI vs World XI match at new Ahmedabad stadium in March 2020
Sourav Ganguly will look to extend his tenure as BCCI President as he aims to make another dream a reality - the debut of the new stadium in Ahmedabad
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At the BCCI's Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on Sunday, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) proposed Asia XI vs World XI match in March 2020 will be held at the newly renovated Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad.
According to a leading Indian media daily, the match now only requires the approval of the ICC. A whopping Rs 700 crores has been invested in the Motera stadium, making it the biggest in the world officially. It also has a capacity of 110,000, overtaking the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia, which can seat 90,000 people. The Sardar Patel Stadium is set to be ready in March and the exhibition match has been mulled as its inaugural match.
What adds to the excitement is that the match will be in the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making his appearance a massive possibility should the BCCI get the ICC's approval. It is expected to be a great advertisement for the ground, which has now been made into a sports complex with state-of-the-art facilities for athletes across sports to come and practice from all parts of the country.
Should the move be confirmed, it will be another feature in Sourav Ganguly's cap as the BCCI President, having taken charge for just 6 weeks so far. It is expected that the recent Pink-Ball Test against Bangladesh and this match could convince the Supreme Court to relax their cooling-off period rule for administrators. As per the rule, Ganguly is expected to vacate his post on September 23, 2020, due to being the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President prior to this. However, if the rule is relaxed, Ganguly could well be at the helm of Indian cricket till 2024 and not take the compulsory 3-year cooling-off period.
Sourav Ganguly's tenure as BCCI chief
Meanwhile, Ganguly led the successful Day-Night Test match in Kolkata. The former Indian captain had been busy preparing for the historic Test ever since taking charge of the top job. He made the Day-Night Test into reality and while talking to the official broadcasters of the India vs Bangladesh series, he said that he was relaxed, relieved and happy.
He wanted to take that step for Test cricket as it was really important to revive the format in India. He added that people were not turning up for Test cricket so they did a lot of things such as promotions during and before the Test. Ganguly said that tickets were sold out throughout even on Day 3 though the game was expected to finish early.
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13:10 IST, December 2nd 2019