Visakhapatnam gears up for Women’s World Cup 2025 as global showpiece returns to Andhra Pradesh after 28 years
India, one of the favourites to win the ongoing ODI Women’s World Cup, will most probably see its campaign made or broken in Visakhapatnam this week.
The ‘city of destiny’ is the apt venue to give fans an idea of how this tournament will unfold, not just for the Women in Blue but also for the other heavyweights – Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand.
With the World Cup returning to Andhra Pradesh after 28 years, officials from the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) and the Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association (VDCA) have left no stone unturned to ensure that players, fans and every stakeholder get the best possible experience.
“We are very excited to have Vizag host some big matches, possibly even the biggest one – India vs Australia. The ACA has been working tirelessly, under the guidance of president Kesineni Sivanath and secretary Sana Sathish Babu, to ensure that Andhra cricket takes the next step, starting with this tournament,” Girish Dongre, Chief Operating Officer of ACA, told Sportstar.
Out with the old, in with the new
With the stadium being more than two decades old and hosting high-profile matches regularly, including a few of Delhi Capitals’ Indian Premier League (IPL) clashes, it has seen some upgrades.
Earlier this year, Capitals played two of their IPL matches here and ACA went about replacing all the floodlights, not just for better viewing in the stadium, but also to meet the modern-day broadcasting demands.
“We have brand new Phillips flood lights installed this year. The first game under them was played on March 24, the first IPL game between Delhi and Lucknow (Super Giants). These are giving the lux levels of about 3,700 to 3,800, which is great for the 4K broadcast as well,” he explained.
Since then, there has been an overall overhaul of various facilities—from the practice areas and dressing rooms to stands and hospitality boxes.
“We have completely new dressing rooms. We also know how important recovery is for the players these days. So, while most stadiums have only one or maybe no ice baths, we have two. Not just in the home dressing room, but in both dressing rooms. These days, teams are travelling in bigger numbers and players prefer to take ice baths after practice also, which is why we decided to do this” he said.
While the visiting teams will walk into a brand new experience at the ACA-VDCA Stadium, for the Indian women, it will be a familiar setting, thanks to the intense training camp they had here last month.
The players and even head coach Amol Muzumdar were impressed with the new look the stadium sported, according to Dongre.
“The dressing rooms are totally new and have been liked by all the players who have visited the stadium. The Indian women had a camp here and they were so, so happy. In fact, Amol Muzumdar observed that we have one of the best dressing rooms he has ever seen and was [so] delighted that they decided to do the camp here in Vizag.”
Fan friendly
Despite Visakhapatnam being one of two venues (besides Navi Mumbai) to host multiple India matches, ACA has opted to cap the cost of tickets at a very reasonable price. The idea behind that is to ensure that fans come to the stadium in large numbers and create the sort of atmosphere that has been missing in the World Cup so far.
“After our commitments to ICC, BCCI, our districts and our cricketers, about 18,000 tickets (out of 27,000) are available for general sale. We have also ensured that the prices are as low as Rs. 100 per ticket. And the sales for the first two games have been very good,” Dongre revealed.
Even when India takes on Australia on Sunday, which has been billed as arguably the biggest clash of this tournament, ACA has decided against fully tweaking its process.
“For India vs Australia, at the moment, I am looking at a 100 per cent packed stadium. What we have done just for that match is to implement surge pricing. The initial leg of sales was Rs. 100 per ticket. In the second stage, we have made it Rs. 150 per ticket, and we will not go beyond that. For all other games, tickets are capped at Rs. 100 only.”
With the expectation of sold-out India games, provisions have also been made to ensure there is no dearth of parking spaces.
“We have our own parking area, which can hold about 250 cars in the B ground and about 70 to 80 in the A ground. In the A ground, we have space for about 400 to 500 two-wheelers, with a similar number in the B ground as well,” he said.
“Apart from that, if there is a demand, we can also hire additional spaces. We normally turn to the adjacent Vizag convention, an engineering college that is close by, or an open ground that is privately operated. We have those options as well.”
From free drinking water, ambulances stationed at various gates with a dedicated spectator medical room, ample parking space, fully renovated toilets for men and women, stands with easy access for the physically challenged, and the provision to buy tickets on the ground (at Gate 17), ACA has worked tirelessly with various district administration officials to give fans a seamless experience.
The road ahead
While the stadium now well and truly meets the demands of international cricket, ACA has bigger plans to elevate the venue in the Indian cricketing ecosystem.
“Vizag is the only international ground Andhra has, and there is scope for continuous improvement. Our next step will be to have a good gym for our players. At the moment, we have a very basic one, and we are looking to upgrade,” Dongre revealed.
“Besides that, we want a very good indoor training facility. When the Indian women had a preparatory camp here, it rained on the first two days. Luckily, they had a break day and a bonding day, so they had no disturbance. But that needs to change. We have already started discussing it.”
ACA has also vowed to focus equally on men’s and women’s cricket, right from the grassroots level to the seniors. With that in mind, and to honour some of the trailblazers from the State, two stands at the ACA-VDCA stadium will now be named after Mithali Raj, former India captain and the highest run-scorer (10,868) in women’s international cricket, and Ravi Kalpana, the first woman from Andhra Pradesh to play for the national team.
Visakhapatnam’s World Cup schedule:
- India vs South Africa on October 9
- India vs Australia on October 12
- South Africa vs Bangladesh on October 13
- Australia vs Bangladesh on October 16
- England vs New Zealand on October 26
- Visakhapatnam has never hosted a women’s World Cup match before.
- Andhra Pradesh, however, has hosted a women’s World Cup match before, when England beat Pakistan by 230 runs in 1997 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Vijayawada.
- The city did host a men’s ODI World Cup match between Australia and Kenya in 1996, where Australia won by 97 runs.
Published on Oct 09, 2025
