Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium

Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium

MCA Stadium
View of MCA Stadium
Ground information
Location	Pune, Maharashtra
Establishment	April 2012
Capacity	37,000
Owner	Maharashtra Cricket Association
Architect	Hopkins Architects[1]
Operator	Pune Stadium Ltd.
Tenants	Maharashtra cricket team Indian Cricket Team Pune Warriors India (2012–2013) Veer Marathi (2013–2016) Kings XI Punjab (2015) Rising Pune Supergiant (2016–2017) Chennai Super Kings (2018-2019)
End names
Pavilion End Hill End
International information
First Test	23–25 February 2017:  India v  Australia
Last Test	10–13 October 2019:  India v  South Africa
First ODI	13 October 2013:  India v  Australia
Last ODI	28 March 2021:  India v  England
First T20I	20 December 2012:  India v  England
Last T20I	10 January 2020:  India v  Sri Lanka
As of 28 March 2021 Source: Ground Info

The Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium is a cricket stadium located at Gahunje, Pune, India off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

It serves as the home stadium for the Maharashtra cricket team including headquarters for the Maharashtra Cricket Association.

With India having the largest cricket audience in the world and Indian influence in international cricket growing, the MCA decided a new stadium was needed. Hopkins Architects of London was commissioned to design a new 37,000 seat stadium in Pune and the stadium was the result. As of 10 Oct, 2019 it has hosted 2 Test, 4 ODIs and 3 T20Is.

MCA stadium from outside

The MCA Stadium was inaugurated by Shantanu Sarnayak nephew of ex cabinet minister of Maharashtra in April 2012 and the first match was played between Kings XI Punjab and Pune Warriors in April 2012. The first Twenty20 International match at the stadium was played between India and England in December 2012. The first Test match at the venue was played between India and Australia in February 2017.^[2]

History[]

MCA Pune

The MCA's decision to build a new Cricket stadium in Pune stemmed from a dispute with the Pune Municipal Corporation^{[citation needed]}, regarding ticket allocations for Nehru Stadium. This conflict came to a head when an international match between India and Sri Lanka was moved to Kolkata, with the MCA stating they were in no position to host the match. Following this, the MCA decided a new stadium was needed.

MCA Pune was inaugurated by the then ICC President and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on 1 April 2012.^[3]

In 2013, the Indian company Sahara India Pariwar bought the naming rights and the stadium was renamed the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium. However, the name was changed back to the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium because Sahara paid only a part of the Rs. 200 crore that it had promised when acquiring the rights.^[4]

In November 2015, the stadium was selected as one of the six new Test venues along with Holkar Stadium, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium and Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in India.^[5]

Construction[]

The stadium was designed by British architecture company, Hopkins Architects. Its original completion date was November 2010 at a cost of Rs 1.50 billion, covering and area of 35 acres (140,000 m²).^[6] However, the stadium was ready by 2012. As a result, the stadium was not able to host ICC Cricket World Cup matches as originally intended.

The site is located close to the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway, just outside the city of Pune, with dramatic views of the surrounding mountains.

The stadium and the seating arrangement have been designed in such a way that an unobstructed view is assured from each location.

The most important feature of this stadium is the rainwater drainage system. Often, matches are abandoned due to heavy downpour. To overcome this problem, MCA opted for sand-based outfield developed departmentally with technical assistance from STRI Limited, UK. Due to this technology, even during heavy showers, water on the outfield drained out fast making it ready for play again just in few minutes.^[7]

Notable Events[]

In 2018 IPL, due to members of a few fringe political parties staging protests outside the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai as well as several parts of Chennai demanding the IPL matches to be moved out of the city until the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) was set up as directed by the honourable Supreme Court of India. Despite tight security for the match against KKR, the Chennai police expressed their inability in ensuring enough personnel at the venue for the smooth conduct of the remaining games. MCA Stadium in Pune was selected to host remaining six home games of Chennai Super Kings

Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium at Gahunje, the home ground of Pune Warriors India from 2012 to 2013

Controversy[]

In October 2017 a stadium groundsman, Pandurang Salgaoncar, was sacked after video emerged of him allegedly agreeing to tamper with the wicket before a one-day international between India and New Zealand.

The sting operation was conducted by India Today TV. They captured Salgaoncar on camera allegedly stating he would prepare the pitch to suit two unnamed bowlers.

The second ODI went ahead on schedule after the pitch had been inspected by match referee Chris Broad.

The India Today footage of Salgaoncar speaking with a reporter, who was posing as a bookmaker, was broadcast a few hours before the match.^[8]

Feature[]

The MPIC project included:

• A main 15 wicket match ground
• Adjacent practice ground with nets, for practice and smaller matches
• Spectator seating for 37,406 grouped into 4 stands
• A Members' Pavilion and a media stand
• Additional facilities for 5,000 members including squash and badminton courts, a swimming pool, spa, restaurants and bars
• 80 corporate hospitality boxes
• A state-of-the-art indoor Cricket Academy with residential accommodation for youth training schemes
• Parking for almost 4,000 cars and 10,000 two-wheelers.^[7]

List of Centuries[]

Key[]

• * denotes that the batsman was not out.
• Inns. denotes the number of the innings in the match.
• Balls denotes the number of balls faced in an innings.
• NR denotes that the number of balls was not recorded.
• Parentheses next to the player's score denotes his century number at Edgbaston.
• The column title Date refers to the date the match started.
• The column title Result refers to the player's team result

Test Centuries[]

No.	Score	Player	Team	Balls	Inns.	Opposing team	Date	Result
1	109	Steve Smith	Australia	202	3	India	23 February 2017	Won[9]
2	108	Mayank Agarwal	India	195	1	South Africa	10 October 2019	Won[10]
3	254*	Virat Kohli	India	336	1	South Africa	10 October 2019	Won[10]

One Day Internationals[]

No.	Score	Player	Team	Balls	Inns.	Opposing team	Date	Result
1	122	Virat Kohli	India	105	2	England	15 January 2017	Won[11]
2	120	Kedar Jadhav	India	76	2	England	15 January 2017	Won[11]
3	107	Virat Kohli	India	119	2	West Indies	27 October 2018	Lost[12]
4	108	KL Rahul	India	114	1	England	26 March 2021	Lost[13]
5	124	Jonny Bairstow	England	112	2	India	26 March 2021	Won[13]

List of Five Wicket Hauls[]

Key[]

Symbol	Meaning
	The bowler was man of the match
	10 or more wickets taken in the match
§	One of two five-wicket hauls by the bowler in the match
Date	Day the Test started or ODI was held
Inn	Innings in which five-wicket haul was taken
Overs	Number of overs bowled.
Runs	Number of runs conceded
Wkts	Number of wickets taken
Econ	Runs conceded per over
Batsmen	Batsmen whose wickets were taken
Drawn	The match was drawn.

Tests[]

No.	Bowler	Date	Team	Opposing team	Inn	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ	Batsmen	Result
1	Steve O'Keefe §	23 February 2017	Australia	India	2	13.1	35	6	2.65	K. L. Rahul Ajinkya Rahane Wriddhiman Saha Jayant Yadav Ravindra Jadeja Umesh Yadav	Won [9]
2	Steve O'Keefe §	23 February 2017	Australia	India	4	15	35	6	2.33	Murali Vijay Virat Kohli Ajinkya Rahane Ravichandran Ashwin Wriddhiman Saha Cheteshwar Pujara	Won [9]

References[]

External links[]

• hopkins
• internationalsportsturf

Coordinates: 18°40′28″N 73°42′23″E / 18.67444°N 73.70639°E / 18.67444; 73.70639