BCCI Secretary Jay Shah to unveil new name of Rajkot stadium

The brand-new cricket stadium in Rajkot is all set to get a new name. Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) will be renaming its new cricket stadium in Rajkot after former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah. The inauguration of the new name will be on the eve of the third Test match between India and England scheduled to start on 15 February. Planned to take place on 14 February, the inauguration will be carried out by BCCI secretary Jay Shah who will unveil the new name, Niranjan Shah Stadium.

Speaking on the topic, SCA secretary Himanshu Shah confirmed that the BCCI secretary will be unveiling the new name, further adding that invitations have been sent to senior BCCI officials for the ceremony and confirmations will be received in the coming days.

“Jay bhai Shah will unveil the new name, and we have also sent out invites to senior BCCI officials for the ceremony. In a couple of days, we will have confirmations from all the dignitaries and office bearers we have invited,” he said.

While the inauguration of the stadium will take place a day ahead of the third Test match between India and England, the players of both teams are likely to also be invited for the event. Hopeful of their attendance for the unveiling ceremony, the SCA secretary said, “Can’t confirm this as of now, but the invites will be sent, and we hope the players can attend it too.”

The decision to rename the stadium was moved to the SCA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in October last year and was willingly accepted.

It is noteworthy that 79-year-old Niranjan Shah served as the SCA secretary for close to four decades and later also served as a BCCI secretary. A left-handed batter during his time, he also played 12 first-class games for Saurashtra between 1965 and 1966 and the 1975–76 season. Apart from that, he had also served as the chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in the past. His son, Jaydev, has also been a part of multiple Indian Premier League (IPL) teams in the past and is currently presiding as the SCA president.