World's Highest Altitude Cricket Stadium in Dharmshala - Unimaginable location surrounded by snow covered Himalayan peaks & stunning tea-estates of Himachal Pradesh
Recently we shared about World's Highest Hockey Stadium and World's Highest Cricket Ground, which are located in different parts of Himachal Pradesh state in India. Today we are going to explore World's Highest Altitude Cricket stadium which is located in Dharmshala town of Himachal Pradesh state in India. Dharmshala is also known as second capital of Himachal Pradesh and has legislative assembly building in the town which is used during winter sessions of the assembly. Dharmshala is located in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh and administrative hub for the district. This region is also popular for it's tea estates which are spread in various parts of Kangra and I am sure you can easily connect that Kangra tea is produced around this region of Himachal Pradesh. Through this blogpost we shall know more about HPCA Cricket stadium in Dharmshala.
I have been fortunate to visit HPCA Cricket stadium multiple times for various cricket matches and also explored some of the exclusive parts of the stadium. Last project with HPCA provided a good opportunity to explore interiors of Dharmshala Stadium. Travellingcamera entered into the stadium to see all the VIP lounges, Team Dressing rooms and other special seatings on top floor. As you can see in above photograph, the snow covered mountains can be easily viewed throughout the year.
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Dharamshala Cricket Stadium is only cricket stadium of international reputation in Himachal Pradesh. It serves as the home ground to the Himachal Pradesh state cricket team and also for the IPL team Kings XI Punjab to a limited extent... By virtue of its natural backdrop (3/5th of the stadium is surrounded by snow covered hills...) it is one of the most attractive cricket stadiums in India.
In addition to Ranji matches, it has hosted some international matches as well. In 2010, a match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Superkings held here in which His Holiness the Dalai Lama graced the match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Stadium in Dharamshala.
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On entering inside the stadium, there is a huge sitting area with lots of photographs of international cricketers from various parts of the world. And this included cricketers from oldest world cups as well. I am not sure how this space is utilized during international matches but on that day tea, snacks and lunch was served in this area.
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Parallel to this hall on ground level, there are few VIP lounges which were closed on that day. Seating arrangement inside looked like modern massage chairs :)
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Extended part of ground floor hall with all the walls decorated with Photographs of various cricketers in action.
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Although Dharmshala is naturally very rich place and its completely green, have flowers and green plants to decorate the stadium. Dharmshala Stadium looked very well maintained and finer details were taken care while designing it. I am not an expert but I was super impressed with the quality of work saw there.
This was something unexpected :) Dharmshala Stadium has different portions and interiors were completely different in all of those sections. Some parts were very sober with all modern fittings and furniture, while other parts looked very royal with all the classic fittings in furniture, walls and roofs.
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Now I started moving up for first floor of the Stadium and preferred to go through stairs instead of lift ! Whole stair areas are decorated with photographs again but sizes were small which looked perfect in these narrow walls. Shiny marble fittings on these stairs were giving a feel of five star hotel. And yes, waling inside the VIP lounges was really like some five star property.
Here is a view of back side of Dharmshala Stadium. I am not sure if these apartments are for stadium staff or something else and the green grounds on left are used for practice.
A wonderful model of Dharmshala Stadium is installed inside the main building of this campus !!!
Conference/Meeting hall of Dharmshala Stadium looked like what you see in above photograph.
Another photographs of same area where most of the cricket conferences or meetings take place. Note a large projector on the front wall with a Photograph of Dharmshala Stadium on it.
All the walls and pillars in this room were covered with leather crafts which looked very nice and gel with overall color combination used for flooring and furniture used in this Conference Hall of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium !!!
Next to the Conference Hall, there is a VIP lounge with lot of grouped chairs with marble top tables. This whole area looked like some royal casino of Las Vegas. I wanted to capture it better but match was about to start after a short drinks break. So after few clicks I had to rush to other areas.
Here is another photograph of VIP Lounge on first floor of Dharmshala Stadium !!!
There was an adjacent hall which was decent and looked not that lavishing. But it was also closed area with decent air-conditioning. I am not sure who uses these halls/rooms during matches but after looking at India-Pakistan Semi-finals, it seemed that area shown in above photograph must be used by our leaders like Chief-Minister/Prime-Minister or some other important people in our democracy system.
Dharmshala & Mcleodganj have been very popular Hill Stations in Himlayan State of India (Himachal Pradesh) and it's more popular now because of wonderful Cricket Stadium there. The New Cricket Stadium at Dharmshala is hosting various IPL Cricket Matches apart from regional cricket and many folks are coming to this beautiful town for sports as well as exploring natural beauty.
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