Rajkot’s SCA Stadium to be re-named as Niranjan Shah Stadium ahead of IND-ENG Test

Jay Shah, the current Honorary Secretary of the BCCI, will be inaugurating the new name of the stadium on February 14, on the eve of the third India-England Test.

Rajkot: The Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) stadium in Rajkot will be re-named as the Niranjan Shah Stadium ahead of the third India-England Test, which is starting on February 15.

SCA said in a statement that Jay Shah, the current Honorary Secretary of the BCCI, will be inaugurating the new name of the stadium on February 14, on the eve of the third India-England Test. The stadium, located in Khanderi, on the outskirts of Rajkot, is going to be renamed after Shah, who played 12 first-class matches for Saurashtra from 1965/66 – 1974/75.

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He later on dabbled in cricket administration and also served as the Honorary Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), apart from being the SCA Secretary for close to four decades. His son, former Saurashtra cricketer Jaydev Shah, is the current president of SCA. Jaydev played 120 first-class games, 54 List A and 33 T20s for Saurashtra and even captained the side, before retiring from all forms of the game in 2018.

The current five-match Test series between India and England is locked at 1-1. While England won the opening Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs, India emerged victorious in the second game at Visakhapatnam by 106 runs. Both teams are on a long break, with England going back to its pre-series training base in Abu Dhabi.

India and England are expected to regroup in Rajkot a couple of days ahead of the third Test starting on February 15. The last time these two teams played a Test in Rajkot, it was in 2016, which was also the first Test at the venue, which ended in a draw. It will be followed by the next two matches in Ranchi and Dharamshala.