A big game on the field and equally big names off it cheering on the Men in Blue ? there?s nothing low-profile about Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. The who?s who of India Inc will be out in full force at the ICC World Cup final venue, where reportedly as many as 40 corporate boxes have been sold at an average price of R3.75 crore per box.
That Reliance Industries? Mukesh Ambani will be there ? having bought three corporate boxes at the stadium for Rs 5 crore ? is old news. What?s awesome is the long list of corporate heavyweights expected to attend, be it Ficci president and Bharti Enterprises? vice-chairman and MD Rajan Bharti Mittal; MP and head of the over R30,000-crore Bajaj Group, Rahul Bajaj; TCS honchos; the Ruia family of Essar; Fortis Group promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh; Kingfisher top guns; Hero Honda?s Pawan Munjal; Religare?s chairman and MD Sunil Godhwani; Lupin?s promoter Nilesh Gupta; Future Group founder and CEO Kishore Biyani; JSW Steel vice-chairman and MD Sajjan Jindal; Ogilvy & Mather chairman and ad man Piyush Pandey; PVR Ltd chairman and MD Ajay Bijli; both Idea Cellular?s outgoing and incoming MDs, Sanjeev Aga and Himanshu Kapania; and Genpact president and CEO Pramod Bhasin, to name a few.
However, while money has shown its might, it is the common man who might be deprived of watching master blaster Sachin Tendulkar hit his 100th international century on his home turf.
Of the 33,442 seats in the stadium, around only 4,000 were available for sale, which is hardly 12 % of the total capacity. Reportedly, about 14,000 tickets have been distributed to cricket clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association, while the sport?s global body, ICC, has a quota of around 8,500 tickets. The BCCI itself has set aside as many as 2,000 tickets for itself.
This has sent the prices of tickets spiralling to as high as Rs 1 lakh in the black market, inviting sharp criticism against the World Cup organisers. There has also been a heated debate in the media over the choice of venue, as Wankhede Stadium, after renovation, has had its capacity reduced by almost 6,000 seats. However, those favouring the venue, including ICC chief executive Haroon Logart, feel Mumbai and Wankhede can give this World Cup a fairytale ending, as it is considered the Mecca of Indian cricket, besides being Tendulkar?s home ground, of course. Such is the anticipation from the game and from Team India that India has odds of 8-13 with UK bookmakers Ladbrokes Plc and William Hill Plc. Reportedly, over 70% of the total bets being placed with William Hill are in India?s favour. The India-Pakistan semi-final attracted bets of over ? 1 million for both. No wonder both bookmakers are actually hoping Sri Lanka beats India.
Fever Pitch!
* Sachin & Murali take centre
Sachin Tendulkar stands at the heart of a real-life drama on Saturday which would be rejected as impossibly contrived if suggested to any director in Bollywood, the flourishing film industry based in his native Mumbai. A billion Indians are praying that the best batsmen of modern times will score an unprecedented 100th international century and take India to victory in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka. All roads lead to the Wankhede Stadium in Tendulkar?s home town for the first all-Asian World Cup final between the two best teams in the competition. In a further theatrical twist, the final will also feature Muttiah Muralitharan, the man ranked by the Wisden almanac as the leading spin bowler in the history of a sport described by social theorist Ashis Nandy in The Tao of Cricket as ?an Indian game accidentally discovered by the British?.
