Formerly known as the Gujarat Stadium, the ground was renamed in tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,[citation needed] India’s first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Before the Sardar Patel Stadium, international cricket matches in the city were played at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s stadium of the same name (Sardar Patel Stadium) in the Navrangpura area. In 1982, the Government of Gujarat donated a 400,000-square-metre (100-acre) stretch of land on the banks of the Sabarmati River to build a new stadium. The construction of the Sardar Patel Stadium was completed in nine months. Since then, all International cricket fixtures for the city are hosted here. In the 1984-85 Australia India series, Sardar Patel Stadium hosted its first ODI, in which India was lost.
At the arena Sunil Gavaskar became the first ever batter to score 10,000 runs in the Test cricket, he did the feat against Pakistan in their 1987 tour. In 1983, Kapil Dev took a nine-wicket haul against the West Indies in 1983, and claimed his 432nd Test wicket at the stadium to become the highest wicket-taker in the world in 1995, which broke Sir Richard Hadlee’s previous record. In 1996, the ground hosted a low-scoring Test match against South Africa, where the visitors lost 105–170.