Wankhede Stadium

The Wankhede 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 spectator 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. 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, large number of toilets and food courts. 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 days, 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.