Wankhede Stadium

Mumbai has seen Test matches played at three different grounds. The Mumbai Gymkhana ground hosted the first-ever Test in India, in 1933–34 against England. After World War II, the Cricket Club of India Ltd's Brabourne Stadium – second ground of the city – was used for 17 Tests. The Wankhede Stadium was built after disputes between the Cricket Club of India, which owns the Brabourne Stadium, and the Bombay Cricket Association (now Mumbai Cricket Association) over the allocation of tickets for cricket matches.[3] This became severe after the Test between India and England in 1973. At the initiative of S. K. Wankhede, a politician and the secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association, BCA built the new stadium in South Mumbai (now South Mumbai) near the Churchgate station. It was built in approx. 13 months and opened in time for the final Test between India and the West Indies in 1975.[1] Since then the Wankhede stadium has taken over from Brabourne Stadium as the main cricketing venue in the city. It was named after the Association's President Barrister Sheshrao 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 onto 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 Virat Kohli's 235 against England in 2016–17. 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 since 2017–18 season when Shafiqullah Shafaq scored double century in 89 balls.[4]

The Wankhede Stadium was built in 1975 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 a spectator's 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. P.K. Das & Associates and M/s. Shashi Prabhu & 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, a 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 on 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. [5]

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. Red soil is used to prepare the pitch, which ensures consistent bounce. 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 day, and in the Test played on the ground, against Australia in 2004 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 test between India and West Indies in 2011 ending in a draw with both sides tied on equal runs. The most recent test match at the stadium was between India and England in 2016, when nearly all wickets taken by spinners. Still, the pitch was full of runs, witnessing 4 centuries, including a double century of the Indian captain, and innings total 400 and 600+ in the first inning of the teams only.

• Capacity: 33,108
• Floodlights: Yes
• The WS is the home ground of Mumbai Indians team in Indian Premier League, as well as Mumbai's Ranji Trophy team.
• The ground is situated near Marine Lines in Mumbai.

This stadium has hosted 20 One Day International (ODI) matches every time that India has hosted the Cricket World Cup:

1987 Cricket World Cup

17 October 1987 Scorecard

India  136/2 (27.5 overs)	v	Zimbabwe 135 (44.2 overs)
Dilip Vengsarkar 46*(37) John Traicos 2/27 (8 overs)		Andrew Pycroft 61 (102) Manoj Prabhakar 4/19 (8 overs)

India won by 8 wickets Umpires: Mahboob Shah and David Shepherd Player of the match: Manoj Prabhakar

5 November 1987 Scorecard

India  219 (45.3 overs)	v	England 254/6 (50 overs)
Mohammad Azharuddin 64 (74) Eddie Hemmings 4/52 (9.3 overs)		Graham Gooch 115 (136) Maninder Singh 3/54 (10 overs)

England won by 35 runs Umpires: Tony Crafter and Steve Woodward Player of the match: Graham Gooch

1996 Cricket World Cup

27 February 1996 Scorecard

Australia  258 (50 overs)	v	India 242 (48 overs)
Mark Waugh 126 (135) Venkatapathy Raju 2/48 (10 overs)		Sachin Tendulkar 90(84) Damien Fleming 5/36 (9 overs)

Australia won by 16 runs Umpires: Steve Dunne and David Shepherd Player of the match: Mark Waugh

2011 Cricket World Cup

13 March 2011 Scorecard

New Zealand  358/6 (50 overs)	v	Canada 261/9 (50 overs)
Brendon McCullum 101(109) Jacob Oram 3/47 (10 overs)		Ashish Bagai 84(87) Harvir Baidwan 3/84 (9.1 overs)

New Zealand won by 97 runs Umpires: Bruce Oxenford and Shavir Tarapore Player of the match: Brendon McCullum

18 March 2011 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  265/9 (50 overs)	v	New Zealand 153/10 (35 overs)
Kumar Sangakkara 111(128) Muttiah Muralitharan 4/25 (8 overs)		Ross Taylor 33(55) Tim Southee 3/63 (10 overs)

Sri Lanka won by 112 runs Umpires: Asad Rauf and Richard Kettleborough Player of the match: Kumar Sangakkara

2 April 2011 Scorecard

Sri Lanka  274/6 (50 overs)	v	India 277/4 (48.2 overs)
Mahela Jayawardene 103(88) Yuvraj Singh 2/49 (10 overs)		Gautam Gambhir 97(122) Lasith Malinga 2/42 (9 overs)

India won by 6 wickets Umpires: Aleem Dar and Simon Taufel Player of the match: MS Dhoni

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  Chennai Super Kings Wins Vs Kings XI Punjab at Wankhede
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  Before renovation
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  Before renovation
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  Old entrance of the stadium
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  Before renovation, from the railway lines next to the stadium
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  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the stadium in October 2014

• Place names considered unusual

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wankhede Stadium.

• Cricinfo – Wankhede Stadium
• Wankhede Stadium Notable Events
• Cricketweb – Wankhede Stadium
• Players, Teams statistics at Wankhede Stadium
• MCA – Wankhede Stadium