HPCA stadium, Dharamshala Cricket Ground

     HPCA stadium is the Cricket stadium located in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India.  This stadium is the home to Himachal Pradesh cricket team for the Ranji Trophy and a back up venue for the IPL team Kings XI Punjab.  Thanks to Kings XI team for choosing this as one of their home grounds, flood lights have been installed now.

      This venue is very unique as it is situated at the height of 1500 m(approx) above the sea level and has snow capped dauladhar mountains as its backdrop.  Pakistan was the first international team to play in this venue during a tour match against the Board President's XI in 2005.  The scenic beauty of this ground is almost in a different  zone.  The British MPs who played a friendly match here, described this as one of the most beautiful stadiums in the whole world.

This stadium can accommodate upto 23,000 spectators at a time.  Another astonishing feature of this stadium is the open and small stands which allows the winds to sweep across the ground, thus giving a great assistance to the fast and swing bowlers.  

This venue is the first in India to use winter rye grass, which prevents the grass from drying if the temperature dips beyond 10 degrees.  Having situated at hill top, it is not easily accessible.  The nearest international airport is Chandigarh which is 250 km away from this venue.  However there is a local airport at Gaggal which is barely 15 km from here.   Winters however takes its toll at this venue.  This stadium hosting its first ever international match between India and England on January 27th 2013.  

The above picture can tell you what a rough winter can do to this stadium.  The groundsmen and the Indian fans are praying to have a mild winter this time.  Looking forward to this cricket match ... :)