mountains in the background Earlier, the BCCI and state government had the plan to make International Stadium in
Shimla. The location in Shimla proposed for this was
Annadale. But despite every try the Army did not accept this, because Annadale is an Army Cantonment area and its ground serves as important strategic location for Army as well as for the
ARTRAC Shimla. After the failure of this plan then it was shifted to Dharamshala, and then HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala was finally chosen. The stadium served as the home ground for the
Himachal Pradesh cricket team for
Ranji Trophy matches and other domestic matches. The stadium also hosted some
IPL matches as a home stadium for
Punjab Kings. The picturesque venue is unique in
India as it is situated at an altitude of 1,457 m above sea level and has snow-capped
Himalayan mountains in the background. Getting to Dharamsala from the nearby
Kangra Airport, which is about 8 kilometres away through the hilly terrain and the harsh winters, during which it rains and snows, is a deterrent to organizing regular matches.
Dav Whatmore, the former Director of the
National Cricket Academy in India had recommended during his tenure that the stadium is suitable for hosting international cricket matches. The first international team who played at this ground was the
Pakistani cricket team, when they played a warm-up match against
India A in 2005. In November 2015, the stadium was selected as one of the six new Test match venues in India along with the
Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium,
JSCA International Stadium Complex,
Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium,
Holkar Stadium and
Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. The venue has been used sporadically for IPL matches and due to its high altitude has a reputation for six hitting.
Adam Gilchrist became the first player to score a century in the IPL at the HPCA stadium in 2011 against RCB, an innings that included a 122m six off
Charl Langeveldt.
ACC Centre of Excellence In December 2015,
Asian Cricket Council decided to set up Centre of Excellence at
Dharamshala.
2016 ICC World Twenty20 On 21 July 2015, the
BCCI announced the names of the eight cities which would be hosting matches during the
2016 ICC World Twenty20.
Dharamshala was announced as one of the eight venues for the event. On 11 December 2015,
ICC announced the fixtures of the event where the
HPCA Stadium was scheduled to host all the first round Group A matches and a single Super 10 Group 2 match. Originally the marquee
India v Pakistan match was scheduled to be hosted by this venue. Due to security concerns for the Pakistani team, the match was moved to
Eden Gardens,
Kolkata.
2023 ICC World Cup ICC allocated 5 matches to the stadium, including New Zealand v India. However the Stadium was accused of bad outfield and players played with potential risk of being injured. ==Records and statistics==