Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium approved as Afghanistan’s adopted home ground in India - Report

The CoA decided to allocate the Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow as Afghanistan’s new home ground in the country. The neighbouring nation hosted the team at Dehradun and Greater Noida, before this. The shift came following a request from the Afghanistan Cricket Board.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators, at a meeting last month, have reportedly decided to shift Afghanistan’s adopted home ground in the country to Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow for international fixtures in all formats. Previously, the neighbouring nation played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Dehradun as their adopted home ground for the past two years.

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“We have received formal approval of our request from the BCCI. Dehradun did not have enough five-star accommodations which was proving to be a hurdle in organising international games. Now we should have no more problems in this regard at Lucknow,” Afghanistan Cricket Board CEO Asadullah Khan was quoted as saying in a report on CricketNext.

Currently, the Afghan national team does not play its matches in its native land due to security concerns and inadequate facilities.

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Own by Ekana Sports City, the Lucknow stadium hosted its first-ever international match in November last between India and West Indies, a T20 International in which the hosts had an easy win. This March, Afghanistan became the newest ICC full member to pull off a Test win, defeating Ireland by seven wickets in Dehradun.