DDCA renames Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium after Arun Jaitley; Virat Kohli stand unveiled

The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) on Thursday renamed Feroz Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium after the former DDCA president Arun Jaitley.

Home Minister Amit Shah digitally inaugurated the renamed Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium at a ceremony organised at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.

DDCA president Rajat Sharma said that late former finance minister's contribution to cricket is immense.

"It is a great occasion. We are honouring two cricket legends. Arun Jaitley was the president of DDCA for 13 years and did a lot and I am very happy that we renaming this stadium after him. Jaitley's contribution to cricket is immense," Sharma told ANI here today.

The DDCA also unveiled a new pavilion stand at the stadium and named it after skipper Virat Kohli, who recently became the most successful India captain in Test cricket. The unveiling ceremony was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.

"Whereas Virat Kohli is a player from Delhi and we are very proud of him. Coming from Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, he became world's biggest player. We are just honouring him by gifting him Virat Kohli Pavilion," he added.

Sharma also announced that there will be two new cricket academies in Delhi to train cricketers.

"He (Jaitley) was very passionate about cricket. When I became the president, he said DDCA is for cricketers and do something good for the game. He asked me to open three-four academies," he said.

"So, I am announcing today that we are opening two cricket academies under which we will give training to Delhi cricketers and players like Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra and Gautam Gambhir have said they will give training for free," Sharma added.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Acting president CK Khanna also attended the event and congratulated DDCA for their 'bold and historic' step.

"Today is a very happy occasion that the stadium is going to get renamed after a great personality Arun Jaitley and a stand is going to named after Virat Kohli. We congratulate DDCA management for this bold and historic step," Khanna said.