Barsapara Cricket Stadium, officially known as Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Cricket Stadium and nicknamed Assam Cricket Association Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Barsapara, Guwahati, Assam, India. The entire stadium project'scost over Rs 2300 crore. It was inaugurated by Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal on 10 October 2017. The Barsapara Cricket Stadium is India's 49th international cricket venue. First International cricket match played here was between India and Australia T20I. It is a new stadium which hosts domestic and international cricket matches. In 2010, Assam Cricket Association changed the stadium's name in respects to theDr. Bhupen Hazarika. Barsapara Stadium is the largest sports stadium in northeast India.
History
The foundation stone of the stadium was laid by then Chief MinisterTarun Gogoi in June 2004 and he again laid the foundation stone of the club house and stand of the stadium in July 2007 in the presence of then BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah. An area of 59 bighas of land was allotted to the Assam Cricket Association by the State Government and after clearing a portion from encroachers, Assam Cricket Association started construction in the year 2006. The Assam Cricket Association has hosted an unofficial match in the stadium which was initially a dumping ground. In 2009, Assam Cricket Association officials hoped that within one year they will be able to complete the remaining work of the stadium which will be of an international standard. On 4 November 2012, the East Zone Senior Women's Interstate One-day Championship match between Assam and Odisha became the first match to be played at the ground. In the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy season, the ground hosted four matches. Assam against Kerala was the first first-class match. On 10 October 2017, the stadium hosted its first T20 international. The match was played between Australia and hosts India, Australia won the game by 8 wickets. In this match, the newly inaugurated stadium recorded an attendance of 38,132. On 21 October 2018, the stadium hosted its first ODI international. The match was played between hosts India and West Indies cricket team, India won the game by 8 wickets. On 4 March 2019 till 9 March 2019, the ground hosted Women's International Cricketfor the first time. Three Women's Twenty20 International matches were played between England women's cricket team and hosts Indian women's cricket team. England women's cricket team won the WT20I series 3-0.
Facilities
The 40,000 capacity stadium is one of the finest in the country having all the modern facilities. Besides the cricketing arena with covered seating all around, the stadium will also have necessary infrastructure such as indoor practice wicket, swimming pool, gym, etc. Two of the four grandstands, including the players' pavilion and the state-of-the-art media centre, and the ground's 24-hour water sprinkling facility. Klorophyll Sports Turf Technology & Construction Private Limited has constructed the main field covering approximately 16800 sq. m., which is first of its kind in the entire country, as it is 100% sand based USGA perched water table profile installed with a detailed subsoil drainage network on grid pattern. The region is subject to very heavy precipitation, so the subsoil drainage system is designed to withstand cloudburst, such that play can start within minutes of a rain stoppage. Further to this the field is irrigated with low voltage automatic satellite controlled pressurised pop up irrigation system having 82 numbers of sprinkler heads and 6 numbers of Quick Coupling Valves necessary for hand watering the wicket square, etc. The main field has eight pitches on the wicket square, and there are ten pitches on a separate practice wicket area covering more than 2000 sq. m. The curators of those are Mr. Barsamangal Barooah and Mr. Ratul Das. The entire stadium project will cost over Rs 2300 crore.
