By Pragya Tiwari, IANS,
Mumbai: There is the smell of fresh paint and sawdust in the precincts of the brand new, swanky Wankhede Stadium. Still, hundreds of people are working at a frenetic pace to make sure the World Cup day-night game between Sri Lanka and New Zealand Friday has no glitches.
For three years there was no international cricket at the stadium as the renovation work was on.
The new facade certainly cannot subdue the memories of the stadium which will now look to add new ones as it readies itself to host the April 2 final of 2011 World Cup.
In fact, the venue is witness to some nostalgic cricket deeds. Rectangular signboards bearing the names of India’s famous cricketers Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar direct you to the stands named after them.
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) office at the stadium proudly flaunts huge portraits of the great players the megapolis has produced and black-and-white photographs of their Ranji Trophy-winning teams.
Oldtimers recount the memorable innings played at this venue — be it Gavaskar’s 205 against the West Indies in 1978-79 or Vinod Kambli’s 224 in 1992 against England. Even the six sixes in an over by Ravi Shastri off left-arm spinner Tilak Raj, a Delhiite playing for Baroda, to score a whirlwind double-hundred in 1984-85 came at Wankhede.
So were the heroics of Ian Botham, who struck a century and grabbed thirteen wickets in the 1980 Golden Jubilee Test which England won by 10 wickets, and Clive Lloyd leading the West Indies to a 201-run victory with his unbeaten 242 in the first Test played at Wankhede in 1974.
There have been great games even in domestic cricket. In Ranji Trophy, many former cricketers from the city remember with a tinge of regret their loss to Haryana by one run in 1991.
Wankhede, in its new avatar, hosted its first match in three years Sunday when New Zealand defeated Canada in a day match and will now be hosting a day-night encounter between Sri Lanka and New Zealand under newly-installed floodlights Friday.
MCA joint secretary Lalchand Rajput said they have taken note of the things they need to do to improve upon after the first match and will be taking Friday’s match as a dress rehearsal for the final.
“We are very happy after Sunday’s match, especially with the excellent pitch and the beautiful turf. It was a high scoring game, almost 600 runs were scored,” Rajput told IANS.
“We are working to improve upon a few aspects brought to our attention after the first game, like the lack of drinking water facilities.
“Another aspect we are working on is to keep the stadium clean. After the renovation work, a lot of cleaning up had to be done. We have employed a housekeeping agency for it. I am sure everything will be in place by the time we get to the final. We are looking at this match as a dress rehearsal,” he said.
Rajput said the comfort of the spectators has been given prominence as there are enough food courts and importantly, there are 700 toilets in the stadium.
“We have enough food courts. Earlier, pillars in the stadium used to hamper the spectators’ view. Now there are no pillars and spectators can have an unhindered view of the ground. We now have comfortable bucket seats, though this has reduced the seating capacity. We have not compromised on the spectator comforts and ensured the people coming to the match enjoy watching it,” he said.
The refurbished stadium, which can seat 33,500 people, has got state-of-the-art facilities.
Even players’ comfort has been kept in mind, says Rajput.
“The dressing rooms used to be at a lower height, but now they are at the first level and right behind the sight screen so the players can watch the match comfortably,” he said.
The press box is also spacious and can accommodate around 250 journalists with wi-fi connectivity and television sets.
“The commentary box has been put at the first level. The radio and TV commentators need privacy and vantage viewing. We have ensured that.”
The MCA has installed new floodlights.
“The new lights and their lux level is very good. The players have practised under the lights and no one has any complaints,” Rajput said.
Rajput hoped the turnout Friday would be better than Sunday’s match.
“It is a day-night game and we are expecting a good crowd. For a non-India game Sunday we had an encouraging 12,000 people.
“Like in the last game we will give free tickets to schoolchildren. We distributed about 3,000 tickets to BMC schools, Tata cancer institute and to some handicapped people. We are also trying to promote it in a big way among youngsters, who play Harris Shield and Giles Shield,” he said.