A shining gem in a small city

Dehradun's only stadium, the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGICS) is probably one of the most beautiful and modern stadiums in India, but interestingly it is yet not affiliated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India as there is no cricket association in Uttarakhand state.

Located around 10 kilometres away from the main city, the stadium was financed by the Uttarakhand State government for around 250 crore rupees and the contract given to private firm Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd, who will take care of the operations and other maintenance work for the next 30 years.

The 25,000-capacity venue received ICC approval just last week after match referee Javagal Srinath inspected the stadium.

The company has already built a stadium in Kerala, and the RGICS has a specialised group of curators and groundsmen who worked on that stadium. According to the company's marketing and operations manager Anita Navik, they know what the standard should be for an international venue and pitch. The Afghanistan Cricket Board, however, will be in charge of ticket sales and receive the revenue from it as the home board.

Anita also told The Daily Star that as a state starved of international cricket in a cricket-mad country, spectators turned out in droves for the practice match between Afghanistan and a local team recently, and it was hoped and expected that there will be big-time interest in Dehradun's maiden international game between Bangladesh and Afghanistan on Saturday.

Bangladesh's T20I vice-captain Mahmudullah Riyad, who saw the stadium for the first time yesterday along with the rest of the squad in Dehradun, was generous in his praise for the picturesque venue.

"It's a beautiful stadium and the outfield is nice, along with the other facilities. It is surprising to see such a world-class stadium here, in quite a small city," Mahmudullah told The Daily Star yesterday.