'Almost as good as Headingley' - Michael Vaughan reacts to newly-built Motera Stadium

India is set to replace Australia as the host to the world’s biggest cricket stadium. The newly built Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, which has a seating capacity of 1.1 lakh, will push Australia’s iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (capacity of just over a lakh) to the second place.

In India, the stadium with the highest capacity so far was the Eden Gardens which also had an accommodating capacity of a lakh prior to the renovation. On Tuesday, the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India posted on Twitter a colourful picture of the ‘world’s largest cricket stadium’ and on Wednesday, it came up with yet another closer shot of the venue, captioning it– “The Sun is out”.

The Sun is out! 🌞#MoteraStadium
Ahmedabad, India 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/JYAC886Bd4

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 19, 2020

Michael Vaughan compares Motera and Headingley

US President Donald Trump, who will be visiting India for a two-day trip along with First Lady Melania on Monday, will visit the stadium where the construction work is still underway. Trump will be the fourth world leader who Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host in Ahmedabad, after the likes of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The old Motera was demolished in 2015 and an estimated $7 billion were spent for its renovation. Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Vaughan was impressed with the picture of the Motera Stadium that the BCCI shared, saying it looked almost as good as Headingley.

Established towards the end of the 19th century, Headingley in Leeds has a seating capacity of just over 18,000. It is the home ground of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

Almost as good as Headingley !!!! https://t.co/zO4qvLPUar

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 19, 2020

Motera has hosted 23 ODIs till December 2011 which makes it second only to the Eden Gardens which has hosted 31. The stadium has seen three World Cup games — one in each of the 1987, 1996 and 2011 editions. It has also hosted 12 Tests and is the ground where legend Sunil Gavaskar completed 10,000 runs in the longer format during the 1986-87 Test series against Pakistan. It has also hosted one T20I match between India and Pakistan in 2012.

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