'Surreal': Hardik Pandya hails Motera Stadium ahead of India's D/N Test against England

With Team India all set to play their first game at the newly-built Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad next week, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya shared his excitement of playing in a stadium with a sitting capacity of 1,10,000.

The middle-order batsman has said that he feels proud to have such a facility in the country and at the same time also added that he is eager to have fans in the stadium for the pink-ball match.

'Surreal': Hardik Pandya

"To be honest, surreal to be at the world's largest stadium, we cannot wait to have fans around and see the atmosphere, all the boys loved it, it took us around one hour to get used to the size of the stadium. I feel very proud that we have this stadium in India. I have not seen a gym connected to the dressing room, this is the first time I am seeing a dressing room having a connected gym. It feels fantastic, I cannot thank the GCA enough," Pandya said in a video posted on the official website of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). 

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Third Test to be a D/N affair

The third Test match will be played under lights with the pink-ball. This will be the second time that India will be hosting the pink-ball Test match and third overall. Their first Day-Night Test was against Bangladesh at the iconic Eden Gardens in November 2019 where they had registered a comprehensive win.

However, the Men In Blue's second Test match under lights which was also their first one overseas turned out to be a forgettable one as they tasted bitter defeat at the hands of Australia in December 2020 where Virat Kohli & Co. ended up registering their lowest-ever Test score of 36.

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Coming back to the India-England series, currently, the four-match Test series is leveled at 1-1. After suffering a humiliating 227-run loss in the series opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai last week, a determined Indian team staged a remarkable comeback in the second Test match at the same venue to hand a mammoth 317-run defeat to the visitors.

The Men In Blue will now be hoping to win the next two Tests and thereby, earn the right to face New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final that will be contested from June 18-22 at the 'Mecca of Cricket' Lord's.

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(With ANI Inputs)