- Thursday, February 27, 2025
A number of former cricketers and top administrators of the Indian cricket board were present on the occasion besides Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (23) laid the foundation stone of a new international cricket stadium in Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and the occasion saw the presence of a number of luminaries of the game including former national captains Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar.
Tendulkar, who turned 50 this year, was also seen gifting the prime minister an India jersey, with ‘NAMO’ and No.1 written at the back. A video of the event went viral on social media in no time.
Modi was also felicitated at the event by the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Roger Binny, and secretary Jay Shah, who is also the son of Indian home minister Amit Shah, the second most powerful leader in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the prime minister.
Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of Modi where he has won in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. The foundation stone-laying ceremony comes weeks ahead of the 50-over cricket world cup in India.
#WATCH | Sachin Tendulkar with PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath at the event to mark the foundation stone laying of an international cricket stadium in Varanasi, UP pic.twitter.com/TjgIHNrelD
— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2023
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who hails from BJP was also present.
He said, “PM Modi is laying the foundation stone for International Cricket Stadium Varanasi by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in Uttar Pradesh for the first time. I welcome PM Modi on behalf of every sports enthusiast in the state.
“In Varanasi, a stadium is under construction with the help of the Smart City Mission of the Central Government. This is the third International stadium of Uttar Pradesh and the first to be constructed under the supervision of BCCI. It will provide a platform to the cricket enthusiasts of east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. I would like to thank BCCI and PM Modi for giving this gift to UP.”
The Uttar Pradesh government has reportedly spent Rs 121 crore on acquiring land for the stadium while the BCCI will spend Rs 330 crore on its construction.
The new stadium is expected to be finished by December 2025.
