The Gymkhana gets a makeover

Before Hyderabad had a Test venue, it had Gymkhana.

Cricket has been played on this ground for more than 150 years, ever since British army personnel first took to it in the 19th century. In 1931 it staged its first First Class match and three years later the MCC became the first official overseas team to play in Hyderabad, and this was the ground that welcomed them.

The Women’s World Cup, the Irani Cup and many others have come to this patch of Secunderabad.

With the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium due for much-needed revamp, Gymkhana will host all of Hyderabad’s matches in the Ranji Trophy’s 2026-27 season – and set the ball rolling there.

“Gymkhana has produced a lot of cricketers for India and is the birthplace of cricket in Hyderabad. After taking charge, I went and saw Gymkhana, and it was not the same ground that I knew,” HCA secretary M. Jeevan Reddy told The Hindu.

Soon after Ambati Rayudu became HCA’s head of cricket operations, he vowed to even out gains for batters and bowlers from surfaces here and gear pitches towards producing results.

Roughly four months of labour and close to one crore in expenditure later, all nine pitches – four of black soil, three of red, and two with a 50-50 mix (all sourced from Vikarabad) – at Gymkhana wear a fresh face, done under the watchful eyes of D. Mukesh Kumar, HCA’s senior curator.

Hyderabad and Tripura will be the first to find out what they offer, but the early impressions have already won over head coaches Anirudh Singh and Satrajit Lahiri respectively.

The 30-yard circle has also been rebuilt from the ground up so that the surface is no longer as unforgiving on players’ bodies. The drainage system has also been reworked, which has in turn helped the square boundary grow by around six yards.