# Ekana Cricket Stadium

Ekana Cricket Stadium, also known as Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (BRSABV) is an international cricket stadium in Lucknow, India. The arena has a seating capacity of 50,000, and is the fifth largest international cricket stadium of India. In 2018, the stadium was renamed after India's 10th Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
It has the longest straight boundaries in comparison to all the stadiums in India. It is the home ground of Uttar Pradesh cricket team, UP women's cricket team and IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants. In 2019, Afghanistan cricket team used it as their home ground. K. D. Singh Babu Stadium used to host international cricket matches in Lucknow before the venue was built.
The arena also hosted five matches of the 2023 Men's Cricket World Cup.

## History

The project for constructing the world class stadium in Lucknow was commissioned in 2014, and the stadium was built under public-private partnership between Ekana Sportz City and Lucknow Development Authority. Ekana Sportz City is a Joint venture between Nagarjuna Construction Company, and GC Construction & Development Industries Pvt Ltd.
As per the agreement of the partnership, the government provided Ekana Sportz City with 35-year lease of 71 acres to build the cricket stadium, with the lease running through 2052. In addition, the government also provided 66 additional acres of land for real estate projects on a 99-year lease. The cricket stadium has been built with a budget of 360 crores (3.6 billion rupees).
Before its international debut, it also hosted the final of the 2017–18 Duleep Trophy. The stadium was allocated the 3rd ODI between India and New Zealand to be held on 27 Oct 2017. However, the venue was shifted to Kanpur after the stadium was declared incomplete.
On 6 November 2018, the stadium hosted its first international match, a Twenty20 International (T20I) between India and the West Indies, becoming the 52nd stadium in India to host an international cricket match. International cricket match returned to Lucknow after 24 years, after the India and Sri Lanka test match of 1994. In that match Rohit Sharma became the first cricketer to score four centuries in T20Is. India won that match by 71 runs. The last time Lucknow hosted an international match was in January 1994, when India played a test match against Sri Lanka at the K.D. Singh Babu Stadium.
In May 2019, Afghanistan Cricket Board requested the BCCI to use this venue for their international matches. In August 2019, BCCI awarded the venue to Afghanistan national cricket team as their third home venue in India, being previously played in Dehradun and Greater Noida.
It hosted all the matches during Afghanistan vs West Indies series in 2019. On 6 November 2019, the venue hosted its first ODI match. On 27 November 2019, the venue hosted its first Test match.
In May 2022, the venue was scheduled to host all the matches of the fourth edition of Women's T20 Challenge. However, later the matches were shifted to Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

## Events

The venue has hosted two major events organized by the UP government.

### Award distribution ceremony

On 19 August 2021, an award giving ceremony was held at the stadium by the state government to honor the athletes who won the medals at 2020 Summer Olympics that was held in 2021 at Tokyo, Japan. They all were facilitated with monetary rewards given by the Uttar Pradesh government. The highest prize was given to Neeraj Chopra who was the only one from India to win gold medal in Javelin throw.

### Swearing-in ceremony

On 25 March 2022, at the venue Yogi Adityanath took oath as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh along with his cabinet, after his impressive victory in 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections. The oath was given by the Governor of state, Anandiben Patel.
Many VVIP's, celebrities, big businessmen were invited in the ceremony including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home minister Amit Shah and the Chief Ministers of NDA led states.

## Cricket World Cup
### 2023 Men's World Cup

* 12 October 2023 14:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| South Africa 311/7 (50 overs) | v | Australia 177 (40.5 overs) |
| Quinton de Kock 109 (106) Glenn Maxwell 2/34 (10 overs) | | Marnus Labuschagne 46 (74) Kagiso Rabada 3/33 (8 overs) |
* South Africa won by 134 runs Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Joel Wilson (WI) Player of the match: Quinton de Kock (SA)
* Australia won the toss and elected to field.
* This was Australia's largest defeat in World Cups surpassing their 118 run loss to India in 1983, in terms of runs (134).
* 16 October 2023 14:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Sri Lanka 209 (43.3 overs) | v | Australia 215/5 (35.2 overs) |
| Kusal Perera 78 (82) Adam Zampa 4/47 (8 overs) | | Josh Inglis 58 (59) Dilshan Madushanka 3/38 (9 overs) |
* Australia won by 5 wickets Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZ) and Joel Wilson (WI) Player of the match: Adam Zampa (Aus)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.
* 21 October 2023 10:30 Scorecard
| Netherlands 262 (49.4 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 263/5 (48.2 overs) |
| Sybrand Engelbrecht 70 (82) Dilshan Madushanka 4/49 (9.4 overs) | | Sadeera Samarawickrama 91* (107) Aryan Dutt 3/44 (10 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets Umpires: Marais Erasmus (SA) and Ahsan Raza (Pak) Player of the match: Sadeera Samarawickrama (SL)
* Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat.
* 29 October 2023 14:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| India 229/9 (50 overs) | v | England 129 (34.5 overs) |
| Rohit Sharma 87 (101) David Willey 3/45 (10 overs) | | Liam Livingstone 27 (46) Mohammed Shami 4/22 (7 overs) |
* India won by 100 runs Umpires: Adrian Holdstock (SA) and Rod Tucker (Aus) Player of the match: Rohit Sharma (Ind)
* England won the toss and elected to field.
* Rohit Sharma (Ind) played in his 100th ODI as captain.
* 3 November 2023 14:00 (D/N) Scorecard
| Netherlands 179 (46.3 overs) | v | Afghanistan 181/3 (31.3 overs) |
| Sybrand Engelbrecht 58 (86) Mohammad Nabi 3/28 (9.3 overs) | | Hashmatullah Shahidi 56* (64) Saqib Zulfiqar 1/25 (3 overs) |
* Afghanistan won by 7 wickets Umpires: Nitin Menon (Ind) and Sharfuddoula (Ban) Player of the match: Mohammad Nabi (Afg)
* Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat.
* Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afg) took his 100th wicket in ODIs.
* Afghanistan qualified for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy for the first time ever in International Cricket.

## Records
### List of international centuries
#### Test matches

Only one Test century has been scored at the venue.
| No. | Score | Player | Team | Balls | Opposing team | Date | Result |
| 1 | 111* | Shamarh Brooks | West Indies | 214 | Afghanistan | 28 November 2019 | West Indies won |

#### One Day Internationals

Three ODI centuries have been scored at the venue, two in a men's match and one in a women's match.
Men's ODI centuries on the ground :
| No. | Score | Player | Team | Balls | Versus | Date | Result |
| 1 | 109* | Shai Hope | West Indies | 145 | Afghanistan | 11 November 2019 | West Indies won |
| 2 | 109 | Quinton de Kock | South Africa | 106 | Australia | 12 October 2023 | South Africa won |
Women's ODI centuries on the ground :
| No. | Score | Player | Team | Balls | Versus | Date | Result |
| 1 | 132* | Lizelle Lee | South Africa | 132 | India | 12 March 2021 | South Africa won |

#### Twenty20 Internationals

Only one T20I century has been scored at the venue.
| No. | Score | Player | Team | Balls | Versus | Date | Result |
| 1 | 111* | Rohit Sharma | India | 61 | West Indies | 6 November 2018 | India won |

### List of international five-wicket hauls
#### Test matches

| No. | Bowler | Date | Team | Versus | Inn | Overs | Runs | Wkts | Result |
| 1 | Rahkeem Cornwall | 27 November 2019 | West Indies | Afghanistan | 1 | 25.3 | 75 | 7 | West Indies won |
| 2 | Hamza Hotak | 27 November 2019 | Afghanistan | West Indies | 2 | 28.3 | 74 | 5 | West Indies won |

#### T20Is

| No. | Bowler | Date | Team | Versus | Inn | Overs | Runs | Wkts | Result |
| 1 | Karim Janat | 16 November 2019 | Afghanistan | West Indies | 2 | 4 | 11 | 5 | Afghanistan won |

## Explanatory notes

* ↑ "Ekana" is a Sanskrit words, which means 'unity' in English.
* ↑ Joel Wilson replaced Alex Wharf.