Arun Jaitley Staidum. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals (DC) gave a substantial financial boost to the Arun Jaitley Stadium by working towards its renovation and maintenance ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Although the stadium has been assigned 50 crore rupees for renovation by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Delhi-based franchise has also stepped in to fund the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA).
The venue is set to host five ODI World Cup matches in October-November this year. The Arun Jaitley Stadium, formerly known as Kotla Stadium, also acts as a home venue for the Delhi Capitals franchise in IPL and Women’s Premier League (WPL). As per reports, DC co-owner Parth Jindal and DDCA president Rohan Jaitely had already discussed the arrangements for this upgrade in the stadium. The meeting agenda was to determine how to improve the spectator experience during the match.
“There have been discussions to set up two classy hospitality boxes in the stadium. The idea is to set up temporary boxes by the World Cup and finish the project by the next IPL. The stadium has received many complaints with regards to crowd experience during matches. DDCA and Capitals have put that as a priority,” a source in know of the developments told the Times of India.
“Football stadiums in Europe are managed by corporates to maintain facilities for their club teams. This move will be somewhat in that direction. Now with the Women’s Premier League set to be played in the home-and-away format, Capitals will need the stadium for more than just two months of IPL,” he further added.
Arun Jaitley Stadium to host five league games
Delhi will host a total of five league games in the 2023 ODI World Cup, the first game will be played on October 7. One of the big clashes will take place at this venue as India take on Afghanistan on October 11, and after that, England will take on Afghanistan at the same venue on October 14. The remaining two games will be held on October 25 and November 6.
Currently, the stadium has a capacity of around 35,000 spectators, but this ground has earlier faced criticism for not ensuring basic cleanliness in washrooms during the India vs Australia Test match in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023.
Notably, this is the first instance when any IPL franchise has come up in a stadium upgradation process, especially during the non-IPL season.