Varanasi’s under-construction cricket stadium, which is in reckoning to host the T20 World Cup 2026 games, will reportedly be ready by next year.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the stadium last year. PM Modi was also joined by Indian cricket legends such as Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar in Varanasi, alongside BCCI President Roger Binny and honorary secretary Jay Shah.

The BCCI is confident that the venue will be equipped to stage matches in the next showpiece tournament that takes place on Indian soil.

“The stadium in Varanasi should be ready well before the T20 World Cup in India in 2026,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

The 2026 T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, with the former likely to stage the major chunk of the games. Given the BCCI’s push to get it ready in time for the mega event, it is likely that the new stadium in Varanasi will host at least one match.

BCCI secretary Shah and board vice-president Rajeev Shukla recently visited Varanasi to inspect the progress of the under-construction stadium.

The Varanasi Stadium, the design of which draws inspiration from Lord Shiva, will be the third international venue in Uttar Pradesh after Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium and Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium.

The Uttar Pradesh government is said to have spent Rs 121 crore on acquiring the land for the Varanasi Stadium while the BCCI has earmarked an amount of Rs 330 crore for its construction.

The stadium will reportedly have a seating capacity of 30,000 spectators and seven pitches.