Wankhede Stadium

The Seshrao Krushnarao Wankhede Stadium, commonly known as Wankhede Stadium is a cricket stadium

Wankhede Stadium वानखेडे मैदान

Wankhede Stadium during the first innings of the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final between Sri Lanka and India.
Ground information
Location	Mumbai
Establishment	1974
Capacity	33,000
Owner	Mumbai Cricket Association
Architect	Shashi Prabhu and Associates (1974 and 2010)
Contractor	Billimoria and Company
Operator	Mumbai Cricket Association
Tenants	Mumbai cricket team Mumbai Indians
End names
Garware Pavilion End Tata End

in the Indian city of Mumbai. This ground was built after disputes between theCricket Club of India, which owns the Brabourne Stadium, and the Mumbai Cricket Association over the allocation of tickets for cricket matches. This became severe after the Test between Indiaand England in 1973. At the initiative of S. K. Wankhede, a politician and the secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association, MCA built the new stadium in South Mumbai near the Churchgatestation. It was built in six months and opened in time for the final Test between India and the West Indies in 1975. Since then the Wankhede stadium has taken over from Brabourne Stadium as the main cricketing venue in the city.

The stadium has a capacity of 45,000 and is always in contention to host an international match in India. It has been host to numerous high profile cricket matches in the past, including the match in which Ravi Shastri hit six sixes in an over. The stadium was recently renovated in the build up to host the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final, in which India defeated Sri Lanka by 6 wickets.

== Early years==

Mumbai, the cricket capital of India, has seen Test matches played at three different grounds. The Bombay Gymkhana ground hosted the first ever Test in India, in 1933–34 against England. After the world war II, the Cricket Club of India Ltd's Brabourne Stadium – second ground of the city – was used for 17 Tests. However, due to a dispute between the CCI and the Bombay Cricket Association (BCA), the later built the 45000-capacity Wankhede Stadium, less than a mile away from the Brabourne Stadium. It is named after the Association’s President Barrister Seshrao Wankhede in 1974.

It staged its first Test in the 1974–75 season when the West Indies toured India. Clive Lloyd scored an unbeaten 242 and in Pataudi's last hurrah, India lost by 201 runs. The Test also featured a crowd disturbance after a fan who rushed on to the ground to greet Lloyd was treated roughly by the police. India's first victory here was posted against the New Zealand two seasons later. The stadium has been a witness to great innings like Sunil Gavaskar's 205 against the West Indies and Alvin Kallicharan's 187 in the same game in the 1978–79 series and all round heroics like Ian Botham's century and thirteen wickets in the Jubilee Test in 1979–80, which England won by ten wickets. The highest score by an Indian at the Wankhede Stadium is Vinod Kambli's 224 against England in 1992–93 in only his third Test. Incidentally Ravi Shastri's six sixes in an over off Baroda's Tilak Raj in Ranji Trophy, en route to the fastest double-hundred in first-class cricket were recorded on this ground in 1984–85. His unbeaten 200 in 113 minutes off 123 balls with 13 fours and 13 sixes at this ground, is the fastest double century in first-class cricket ever since.

Stadium Development

The Wankhede Stadium was built in 1974 and the first Test match played was between India and West Indies from 23 to 28 January 1975. The Stadium was built at a time when only Test Matches were played and with the advent of One Day Cricket and Twenty 20 Cricket, the demands of a Stadium from spectator point of view have totally changed.

Since ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 was to be hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and Mumbai was selected to host the final, it was decided to redevelop the Wankhede Stadium to suit the modern facilities and comfort of spectators.

The Managing Committee invited presentations from reputed Architects and shortlisted M/s. Shashi Prabhu & Associates and M/s. P.K. Das & Associates to jointly draw up a project for the redevelopment of the Wankhede Stadium. While redeveloping the Stadium, major changes were at the North end and the South end with better facilities to the spectators in terms of bucket seating, large number of toilets and food courts.

While MCA undertook the redevelopment of Wankhede Stadium, the ground was not available for domestic and international cricket till February 2011. In order to ensure that MCA did not miss out the turn of Test and ODI matches and also to develop a healthy working relationship with the Cricket Club of India.

One of the highlights of the stadium is the suspended cantilever roofs. The Teflon fabric roof is lighter in weight and heat resistant. There is no beam support for the roof to ensure that the spectators will have a better view. On the roof there are exhaust fans which suck the hot air from the stands and allow the breeze from the West to flow in. The stadium has 20 elevators for North and South stands.

Pitch

The seaside situation of the Wankhede stadium means that the swing bowlers get a fair amount of assistance during the early part of each day. Pitch has always been a slow turner. Most of the time it is made result oriented. It has traditionally been full of runs, but it does help the spinners during the last couple of days, and in the Test played on the ground, against Australia in 2005, the ball spun viciously from early on and this, coupled with low bounce, helped India win in under three days even though almost a whole day was lost to rain. The pitch has created many exciting games here with the last test between India and West Indies in 2011 ending in draw with both side tied on equal runs.

Ground facts and figures

• Capacity: 45,000
• Floodlights: Yes
• End names: Garware Pavilion End, Tata End
• Curator: Sudhir Naik.
• The highest Test total at the Wankhede Stadium is 604/6 Dec by the West Indies against India in the 1974/75 season.
• The lowest Test total at the Wankhede Stadium Stadium is 93 by Australia against India in the 2004/05 season.
• The highest partnership at the Wankhede Stadium is 298 by DB Vengsarkar and RJ Shastri for India against Australia in the 1986/87 season.
• The highest ODI total at the Wankhede Stadium is 358/6 by New Zealand against Canada in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
• The lowest ODI total at the Wankhede Stadium is 115 all out by Bangladesh against India in the 1998 season.
• Wankhede Stadium is the home ground of Mumbai Indians team in DLF Indian Premier League.

Sunil Gavaskar (1122 runs) had scored the most number of runs in this stadium followed by Sachin Tendulkar (831 runs) and Dilip Vengsarkar (631 runs) in Tests. Anil Kumble (38 wickets) had taken the most wickets in this stadium followed by Kapil Dev (28 wickets) and Karsan Ghavri (23 wickets) in Tests. The highest scores in ODIs were 358/6 for New Zealand, 299/4 for India and Sri Lanka 289/7. Sachin Tendulkar (455 runs) had scored the most number of runs in this stadium followed by Mohammed Azharuddin (302 runs) and Rahul Dravid (246 runs) in ODIs. Venkatesh Prasad (15 wickets) had taken the most wickets in this stadium followed by Anil Kumble (12 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (9 wickets) in ODIs.

• Architect –Shashi Prabhu and Associates
• Contractor – B.E. Billimoria and Company

The ground is situated near the Marine Lines in Mumbai. The stadium has 7 different stands:

• Sunil Gavaskar Stand
• North Stand
• Vijay Merchant Stand
• Sachin Tendulkar Stand
• MCA Pavilion
• Divecha Pavilion
• Garware Pavilion