Crumbs for Cricket Fans

Only a fraction of the tickets for World Cup matches is available to the general public

Architects and designers have got Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium shipshape for its big date—the World Cup final. Organisers have even increased the quota of tickets available to the public. But the seats reserved for ordinary fans are still a fraction of the stadium capacity. 

Only 5,000 of the 33,000 seats are available to the public. That’s about 15 per cent of all the seats. This is an improvement over the earlier 4,000, especially since the total number of seats in the stadiums has decreased. But that’s little solace for cricket fans.

The ICC, on the other hand, is allotted 8,250 tickets. A category termed ICC Logistics will get another 3,000 tickets. Gymkhanas affiliated with the MCA get around 2,500 tickets. The Garware Club House, situated in the Wankhede premises, will get 3,500 passes. The rest will be taken up by an assortment of administrators, delegates, sponsors and guests. 

The capacity of the rebuilt Wankhede, which will host two group matches and the final, has been reduced from 39,000 to 33,000. “The focus is on the comfort of people, and not the number,” says a staffer of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). 

Moreover, the stadium had scope for expansion only at its northern and southern ends. On the eastern side, it was adjacent railway tracks. On the western side, it had residential buildings in close proximity.

The MCA staffer says, “We increased the share of the public by 1,000 seats… Beyond this, we are helpless. The World Cup is an ICC event. We have to follow their stipulations.” So that’s that.

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Akshay Sawai