Wankhede Stadium
Wankhede Stadium (pronounced [ʋaːnkheɖe]) is an international cricket stadium in Mumbai, India. It is owned and operated by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and is the home ground of the Mumbai Indians. It houses the headquarters of MCA, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and the Indian Premier League (IPL). The stadium is situated near Marine Drive in the Churchgate neighbourhood. Several old cricket clubs are near the stadium, including Hindu Gymkhana, Parsi Gymkhana and Cricket Club of India (CCI). The stadium has been host to numerous high-profile cricket matches in the past, most notably the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final, in which India defeated Sri Lanka and became the first country to win the Cricket World Cup on home soil. It hosted the last match of Sachin Tendulkar's international career. 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's (CCI) Brabourne Stadium – the second ground of the city – was used for 17 Tests. Wankhede Stadium was built after disputes between the CCI, which owns Brabourne Stadium, and the Bombay Cricket Association (BCA; now Mumbai Cricket Association) over the allocation of tickets for cricket matches. 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 Bombay (now South Mumbai) near the Churchgate station by appointing Shashi Prabhu & Associates as their architects and B.E. Billimoria & Co as the contractors. It was named after Wankhede in 1974. It was built in approximately 13 months and opened in time for the final Test between India and the West Indies in 1975. Since then, Wankhede Stadium has been the main cricketing venue in the city. Wankhede Stadium staged its first Test in the 1974–75 season when the West Indies toured India; India lost by 201 runs.
