Dharamsala readies to host Test cricket after eight years

Lalit Mohan

Advertisement

Dharamsala, February 14

Dharamsala is geared up to host a cricket Test of the ongoing series against England early next month. The lush green cricket stadium set in the background of snow-clad Dhauladhar mountain ranges will host the fifth Test of the five-Test series between India and England from March 7 to 11. Sources here said the ticket sale for the match is likely to start after February 25.

The hosting of the Test here has been welcomed by local tourism industry. Sanjeev Gandhi, general secretary of the Smart City Dharamsala Hotel and Restaurant Association, said: “We hope that the match will lure sizeable number of tourists to the region. The five ICC World Cup matches organised at Dharamsala in October last year had also attracted a large number of tourists.”

Sanjay Sharma, director of the HPCA, said the cricket body was ready to host the Test in early March. The issues that cropped up about the Dharamsala international cricket stadium during the World Cup matches had been sorted out. “We are expecting full cooperation from the state government in hosting the international cricket match,” he said.

The stadium has come a long way in the last 20 years from a simple playground of Dharamsala government college to being a top-notch venue that hosted five ICC World Cup matches in October last year.

The work on the cricket stadium began in 2002 when the then BJP government led by former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal gave a piece of land belonging to the Education Department to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) on a token lease amount. The HPCA, at that time headed by Anurag Thakur, son of Prem Kumar Dhumal, proposed to set up an international cricket stadium on the piece of land.

The cricket stadium, when brought up, had limited seating capacity. In 2003, inter-district cricket matches were played at the stadium. In March 2005, the first match of significance between India Board 11 and Pakistan was organised in the stadium which brought the stadium into focus.

The club house and media centre at the stadium were constructed in 2009. Indoor practice area and rehabilitation centre were brought up in 2010.

The year 2010 was significant for the stadium when IPL matches were organised at Dharamsala stadium. This attracted thousands of cricket fans and BCCI officials to Dharamsala. In successive two years in 2012-13, IPL matches remained main cricketing events which propelled the Dharamsala cricket stadium to international fame.