New world record attendance set in Populous-designed cricket stadium

The world’s largest cricket stadium, the Narendra Modi Stadium in India has set a new world record attendance for a limited-overs cricket match with 104,859 fans attending the 2022 Indian Premier League Final.

Held on 29 May in Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, the Narendra Modi Stadium treated the record crowd to a stunning light show before the hometown’s team, the Gujarat Titans, celebrated their inaugural season with a finals win over the Rajasthan Royals.

The stunning spectacle was played out on the world’s biggest stage for cricket as Indian media reported the final as “stellar” (insidesport.in) with “features that will blow your senses” (HindustanNewsHub) and declaring the stadium as “a sight to behold” (Indian Premier League).

Designed by architecture and design firm Populous, in collaboration with India’s top construction contractor, Larsen & Toubro, the world class stadium seats up to 110,000 cricket fans, taking over the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s previous title of largest cricket stadium.

Populous Managing Director (APAC), Paul Henry, said the team worked in collaboration between its Asia Pacific Headquarters in Brisbane and the team in New Delhi, India.

“The vision was to design an iconic stadium for India, a stadium that would bring together as many fans as possible to create an incredible atmosphere for international cricket, IPL matches through to regional and community games,” Henry said.

Every one of the 110,000 seats in the Narendra Modi Stadium has uninterrupted sightlines of the field and pitch, and with a deliberate round, open stadium providing 360-degree views so spectators feel they’re a part of what’s happening in the middle.

Populous Senior Principal and Director, Chris Paterson said the firm has been involved in the design of several high-profile cricket stadiums from the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London to the MCG in Melbourne and the Narendra Modi Stadium.

“Drawing on our expertise with cricket and major sports venues around the world, the bowl design consists of two large seating tiers, each with approximately 50,000 general admission seats designed to fill the lower levels for smaller events and still bring that sense of occasion, the sight and the sound to make every experience a special one,” Paterson said.

Populous’ master plan of the sports precinct includes a community indoor cricket academy housed under the stadium, with a dormitory for up to 40 athletes, six indoor practice pitches and three outdoor practice fields.

The stadium design features four-team dressing rooms and facilities, state-of-the-art club facilities and a VIP pavilion, three practice grounds, an indoor cricket academy, an Olympic-size swimming pool, 76 corporate boxes and a media lounge with press rooms.

“The stadium has become an iconic sports venue for both aspiring and elite players and will become one of the world’s great cricket stadiums, putting the Gujarat Cricket Association on the global sporting map,” Paterson said.

The Narendra Modi Stadium’s new world record attendance has broken previous official attendance figures held by the MCG’s 2015 World Cup Final of 93,013 spectators and the one-day matches in Kolkata where some of the largest crowds of 100,000 fans were recorded in the 1990s and 2000s.