Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium

The Arun Jaitley Stadium is a cricket stadium owned and operated the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) and located on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi. It was established in 1883 as the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, and named after the nearby Kotla fort. It is the second oldest functional international cricket stadium in India, after the Eden Gardens of Kolkata. As of 25 October 2019, it has hosted 34 Tests, 25 ODIs and 6 T20I.

In a 2017 felicitation ceremony, the DDCA named four stands of the stadium after former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi, former India all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath, former India and Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir. The home team’s dressing room was named after Raman Lamba and the away dressing room after Prakash Bhandari.

On 12 September 2019, the stadium was renamed in memory of former DDCA President and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, after his death on 24 August 2019. DDCA president Rajat Sharma said: “It was Arun Jaitley’s support and encouragement that players like Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra, Rishabh Pant and many others could make India proud.” Arun Jaitley has also been credited with turning the stadium into a modern facility, increasing its seating capacity and building better facilities for players during his tenure as DDCA president. The stadium was officially renamed at a function that took place on 12 September 2019. One of the stands of the stadium was named after former Indian captain Virat Kohli on the same date. The name change has been criticised by former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi. After announcing the name change, DDCA clarified that only the stadium had been renamed and that the ground would be still called the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground.

As of 2017, the India national cricket team had been undefeated for over 28 years in Test matches and for over 10 years in ODI matches at this ground.

History

The first Test match at this venue was played on 10 November 1948 when India took on the West Indies.

Records

In 1952, playing against Pakistan, Hemu Adhikari and Ghulam Ahmed were involved in a record tenth wicket stand of 111 runs – a record that still stands. In 1965, S Venkataraghavan, in his debut series, demolished the New Zealand line up with figures of 8 for 72 and 4 for 80. In 1969–70, Bishen Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna combined to spin India to a famous seven wicket win over Australia, the duo picking 18 wickets between themselves In 1981, Geoff Boycott surpassed Gary Sobers’ world record test aggregate.

In 1983, Sunil Gavaskar hit his 29th test ton in this ground to equal Don Bradman’s then record tally of 29 centuries

In 1999, Anil Kumble took all 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan, to become only the second bowler to achieve this feat after Jim Laker.

In December 2005, Sachin Tendulkar scored his 35th test century against Sri Lanka to break Sunil Gavaskar record of the most test centuries.