VIJAYAWADA: The Board of Control Cricket in India (BCCI) President Anurag Thakur formally inaugurated the Cricket Centre on the premises of Mulapadu Cricket Stadium here on Monday.
Spread over 13-acre, the newly-developed cricket centre developed at a cost of Rs 7 crore will have eight suites, twenty rooms, a gymnasium, a swimming pool and a conference hall. The Mulapadu cricket stadium, which is the property of the Krishna District Cricket Association (KDCA), has two play-fields inaugurated earlier by BCCI vice-president and Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) secretary Gokaraju Gangaraju.
Sleepy Mulapadu amid the hillocks is also a good location for promoting trekking and mountaineering, other than cricket.
Green concept was adopted in the stadium and practice sessions are conducted in the natural lighting to reduce power consumption.
Till date, the venue has hosted inter-district, zonal and BCCI junior cricket tournaments. As many as 300 young cricketers from across the thirteen districts are being trained at the Cricket Center, said KDCA secretary A Yella Rao.
Vizag to host Test match soon
The port city of Visakhapatnam is all set to host Test cricket matches at the Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy International Cricket Stadium. Earlier, the stadium has hosted one-day international and T20 cricket matches, including the latest Indian Premier League Season-9, but never a Test match. The BCCI president Anurag Thakur made it clear that board was ready to extend all assistance to the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) to host Test matches in the YSR ACA-VDCA stadium. The ACA has come forward with proposal to conduct Test matches in the Visakhapatnam stadium.