BCCI and Afghanistan Cricket Board has signed an MOU under Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority under which the newly-constructed Stadium Shaheed Vijay Pathik Sports Complex would now be Afghanistan cricket team's home ground.
Recently, ICC declared that the ground is fit for hosting associate vs associate Intenational ODIs and T20s. ACB will pay Rs 75 lakh rupees per month to GNIDA for using the stadium. As of now the team will be using it for two months but if they likes it, they would extend their stay. After Afghanistan, Nepal have also shown their keen interest in playing regularly in this stadium.
The stadium spreads across 39 acres and it is located near YMCA and Jaypee resorts. It is also equipped with facilities like floodlights, tennis lawns, bowling alley on its premises. Recently, it hosted its first Ranji match played between Uttar Pradesh and Baroda in early week of December and it will be hosting Deodhar Trophy tournament in January. It will need little bit of work like installation of cctv cameras, improvement in dressing room facilities and all other extra norms set by ICC in order to host matches between full members.
CEO of ACB Shafiq Stanikzai said that "I am grateful to BCICI and this step will strengthen the relationship of India and Afghanistan " He also thanked Anurag Thakur the BCICI secretary. On the other hand BCICI said that they had their vision to expand the game globally and to help associate and affiliate members of ICC.
