Mumbai: What is it about Wankhede that suddenly brings the cricketing spirit and emotions rushing back into you? Is it the Arabian Sea kissing perch in the tony environs of South Mumbai? More than that it is the sheer pedigree, you would say.
Not just because it is the game’s western command headquarters but also because it is here that the biggest of milestone events has unfolded in the middle. For one, Sachin Tendulkar, whose statue immortalizing his signature lofted drive that became a heartbeat of cricket, was installed in the Wankhede premises just a day before the India-Sri Lanka match of this World Cup, or the bigger more poignant moment when a packed house came to see off the little master from his glorious career in a game of glorious uncertainties.
Tendulkar bid a teary goodbye to what was his life for more than two decades when he walked at 74, 26 runs short of his 52nd Test century. And the whole of Wankhede, including the Press box, burst into moist eyes and the West Indies team paneled him out with utmost respect, and forever.
Not that Tendulkar has had a great run on this ground, getting out in his 70s, 80s, and a couple of times in his 90s, but he chose this venue for his 200th Test and farewell match against the West Indies to honour the wishes of his mother Rajni and his old and ailing coach Ramakant Achrekar to watch the match from the stands.
Wankhede gives you that crucial lived-in feeling once you enter Gate No 2 from the Marine Drive. Immediately, you come across the first ICC merchandise stall within the premises of any of the stadiums hosting the 2023 World Cup.
ICC merchandise, till now, has been a regular in stadia across the world, but in this edition, it was spotted only at Wankhede. Even as the groundsmen could be seen going about their work as a matter of routine, and the free one-time popcorn stalls being set up all around the outer periphery of the stalls, it is the activity that looks veteran and yet so live.
India, home to the most influential cricketing federation in the world, has seen a mushroom growth of stadiums around the country with remote venues like Guwahati and Trivandrum coming into play, mostly outside of the city as monolithic structures not wanting to interact with the hustle and bustle of city life.
Be it Pune, Nagpur, Lucknow, or even the big-ticket Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad which will host the Final of this World Cup on November 19, it is the Wankhede that stands taller, if not bigger, than the newbies.
Ever since it was built in 1974 and opened to play in 1975 after a ticketing dispute with the parental Cricket Club of India spurred the Mumbai Cricket Association secretary S K Wankhede to lay out the new ground in the backdrop of the historical Churchgate Station on one side and the Queen’s Necklace on the other, it has shaped cricket folklore.
The in-form Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who will be playing the seventh league match of this World Cup with Sri Lanka, considers Wankhede his favourite and the “best” venue for cricket. Not just him, but icons of the game like players all the way back to Vinoo Mankad and Polly Umrigar, not to mention Sunil Gavaskar and Tendulkar, have unforgettable memories of this place.
Sharma has helmed five IPL Finals here, which is the home ground of the star-studded Mumbai Indians. He owes his cricketing identity to Wankhede where he would come to practice and grow into the game taking the Mumbai locals and being part of the larger ethos of a struggling population trying to make a mark either in Bollywood, Cricket or other dream careers in this Maximum City.
“Wankhede! Such a special venue, My best venue! What I am today as a cricketer is because of the learnings that I have had, and that has all happened at Wankhede. So nothing can beat that. Mumbaikars love their cricket, and you can see the buzz at Wankhede stadium; it is crazy. It has got those little zones in the stadium, especially the North stand, which is, you know, the most famous stand at Wankhede. The crowd there, the people who come, they are true cricket fans,” Sharma said, on a BCCI show.
It is not just about the reconstructed avatar of Wankhede that catches your imagination, thanks to the Teflon cantilevers that encase the ground without beams and house the giant exhaust fans on its upturned roof to suck out the hot air during matches and usher the sea breeze from the West. It is about the history that it carries, mostly in the golden chamber.
The Wankhede has hosted matches in all four World Cup editions held in the subcontinent, most famously laying out the red soil pitch for an India Cup in 2011 when MS Dhoni led the charge to lift the trophy and dedicate it to Tendulkar who would have otherwise missed this record in his personal gallery.
In 1987, 1996, and 2011, Wankhede hosted 20 World Cup ODIs every edition. After 2011, this icon will not be hosting the Final which has been taken away to the hot and dusty environs of Motera with it splitting a semifinal each with Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Wankhede sits light on the historical data it has created over the years, one being India constructing a mountain of 631 runs against England in 2016-17, while New Zealand slumped to the lowest for this stadium at 62 in 2021-22. Gavaskar remembers this ground for the maximum number of Test runs he scored here (1122 runs), followed by Tendulkar (921) and Dilip Vengsarkar (631).
Not that the bowlers have no cameos to talk about. The late Bishen Singh Bedi, and a host of spinners after him from Anil Kumble to Ashwin to Pragyan Ojha to name a few, have taken home five-wicket hauls from here. So one Mr Mohammed Shami, Team India’s fiercest assassin nowadays, may gather his own record here, considering he is on a furious hunt in this edition. Kumble’s 38 wickets, Ashwin’s 34, and Kapil Dev’s 28 are a few of the collectibles that Wankhede offers. Not to forget, that this stadium helped construct a gargantuan partnership of 298 by Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri for India against Australia in the 1986-87 season.
No wonder then, that the ICC has chosen the Wankhede Stadium over all others to turn blue during India's match against Sri Lanka on November 2 as part of the #BeAChampion campaign, harnessing the reach of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup to build a better world for every child, and create equal opportunities for girls and boys.
The sell-out fixture will see fans attending given an LED wristband that will be synced with a stadium-wide blue light show during the second innings. Players from India and Sri Lanka will support the One Day 4 Children message alongside other legends of the game, including UNICEF and ICC Ambassadors Sachin Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralitharan.
"Every international cricketer, including myself, started as a child with a dream," Tendulkar said ahead of the event. “I look forward to joining hands with UNICEF to see my home ground at the Wankhede Stadium turn blue as we champion equality for children across the world,” he added.
There are many more stories of the head and heart that can carry the day for you. But for now, this is the only venue left in India which has a polished Press Box right behind the bowler’s arms, vertically aligned with the pitch, enabling real analysis of what the ball of the bat did to the game.
Also, the level at which the Press Box is placed, is the right elevation, with Trent Bridge at Nottingham scoring a brownie with a Level 1 layout. From Wankhede, for the cricket writers, it is the clearest 360 degrees view, in stark contrast to the long off, long on and bird’s eye views at other, more modern, facilities that have come up since that day in 1975 when Wankhede opened its ground to West Indies to a 201-run victory that the happening Caribbeans took home.
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