Stadiums and Arenas in Bangladesh

Those blue decorative accents around the outside and the track around the field are both new to me. Although I would have preferred that this stadium be kept for cricket in view of the upcoming World Cup, nonetheless I have to compliment the improvements.

^^ Yes, moving cricket to mirpur was a poor decision in my opinion.

Anyway, I've been reading a lot about some drastic improvements to the mirpur stadium..are these improvements actually visible from the outside and from the stands or are they just the dressing rooms, the press areas, and improved field drainage? it would be nice to see some pictures of the "improved" mirpur stadium.

I hope they take the world cup as incentive to develop the area around the stadium and not just the stadium itself.

Amazing pics Tmac!

Taking cricket away from this stadium was one of the worst decisions ever by the National sports council....I wish they could bring it back.Mirpur stadium might be good ,but I hate the location and its so far away from the city center.Bangabandhu National Stadium was perfect!

Mirza, if you ever have the time, I would love to see what the surroundings of Mirpur Stadium are like today as well as what highrises are in that area (in one of the pics above there is something going up next to Grameen Bank).

Great pics. They should really improve the exterior of the the Bangabandhu stadium. The interior is fine but the exterior looks horrible, even though its better than before. They should make it look more modern, might help.

As for cricket moving to mirpur, it may seem like a bad decision at the moment but if they can (and i doubt it) follow the plans and improve the entire area and signinficantly modernize it, then at the end of the day, i think it will be a good decision. The area around Bangabandhu is extremely crowded and only going to get worse and cricket drawing such huge crowds, i think its better to put it somewhere where there is more room for change in the long run. They just have to execute the idea properly.

I am sorry too,not to see cricket in BNS. I enjoyed some international and domestic matches there back in late 90s.
Actually its not like BCB just decided to leave BNS and go to Mirpur...rather they fought to be there, they shared it for a few years with football (BFF).But there was a real fuss about overlapping with seasons and eventually they lost it by some beurocratic debates...BFF has a lot of big gigs you know.

But to avoid crowd, moving to Mirpur is not the solution, as Mirpur is very crowded now, not a bare place like 10 year ago it was. But I was happy to see Mirpur stadium last night on TV. It looks nice and festive after all the beautification done.

You know the inauguration of next CWC will be held in BD, and to host it BNS is selected primarily. BCB will borrow it from BFF, but it is still 4 years away...a lot may happen by 2011. I would love to see the inauguration with Motijheel skyline above.

Bongobondhu National Stadium was originally constructed for cricket. Since football had always been the most favorite sport of Bangladeshis. So after independence, the stadium was used for soccer and cricket used to be played in outer stadium. When cricket gained popularity, we felt the need for another stadium. Why Mirpur?

1) No space in the city.
2) Worst traffic jams when there was a good game.
3) Hooliganism of indisciplined supporters of defeated teams.

Ya, it was.
And BNS is the only stadium to host the first tests of two countries:in 1955 for Pakistan and in 1999 for Bangladesh. India were the guest on both occassions.

Is the India - Bangladesh match today being played in Mirpur? I thought reconstruction of the stadium was still ongoing? Or have they finished?