Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium is the host for international cricket matches in Hyderabad, India. Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium is also known by its other name as Uppal Stadium as it’s present in Uppal area of eastern suburban Hyderabad and Visaka International Stadium which suits it and sound short and better to hear unlike the name it has as of now. Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium was so named after the Indian famous Congress politician and revolutionary man Rajiv Gandhi.
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium has a seating capacity of 55,000 peoples and its spread over an area of 16 acres with comfortable parking space. This is the home for Hyderabad IPL team i.e., Deccan Chargers and home for Indian Cricket Team for international matches. The stadium has been the host for several of the Indian Premier League T20 matches and other friendly matches like Cricket Celebrity League though it has just got limited numbers of ODI’s to host. This stadium bagged the rights of hosting test matches and one day international matches straightaway from the International Cricket Council (ICC) located in Dubai. The ends are named North End and Shivlal Yadav end in the memory of Shivlal Yadav the former Indian cricketer from Hyderabad. The stadium has got a flood light facility which allows playing Day Night matches and its look wonderful at night timing.
Though Hyderabad had Lal Bahadur Stadium in Fateh Maiden sports complex at Basheerbagh area in central Hyderabad, Hyderabad Cricket Association has very limited authority on it and it belonged to Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP). Moreover due to its smaller size it was known for high scoring and uncontrolled amount of traffic during the international matches, Hyderabad stadium was least preferred for matches in India. Soon after that in 2003, HCA submitted a proposal to Andhra Pradesh government. Headed by N Chandrababu Naidu as the Chief Minister he gave a green signal to quickly construct it with an allocated budge for the same work. For the funding there was an open auction of the stadium and Visaka Industries limited won the auction with a bid of Rs 65 crores and so the stadium was named as Visaka International Stadium in 2004. By 2005 the stadium was built and was ready to host the first ODI matches of the touring South African team vs India.
However the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy the newly elected Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh changed its name to Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as it’s the habit of Congress politician to take all good work credit to their party former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (International Airport at Hyderabad was too named as Rajiv Gandhi International Airport). No doubt that it has all the portraits starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and to my surprise the photos of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were too present. When I had a look at it, it seemed like political playoff, hope Congress leaders don’t name Andhra Pradesh after some of the greats of Congress Party.
The jinx associated with this stadium is that the home team has never won a match, be it Deccan Chargers or Indian Cricket Team. But jinx were broken by Deccan Chargers when they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 14, 2011 in an IPL game.
It’s located in Uppal area of eastern Hyderabad. The closest MMTS station is Secunderabad and its well connected with the APSRTC buses and road network. Once can easily locate it from the road connecting Habsiguda-Uppal. The closest bus stop is Survey of India and its operation since 2004. The distance from Secunderabad is 8 km.
