India Incs day out at Wankhede stadium

Reportedly as many as 40 corp boxes have been sold at an average price of Rs 3.75 cr per box.

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

A big game on the field and equally big names off it cheering on the Men in Blue theres nothing low-profile about Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. The whos 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 Rs 3.75 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. Whats 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 Rs 30,000-crore Bajaj Group,Rahul Bajaj; TCS honchos; the Ruia family of Essar; Fortis Group promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh; Kingfisher top guns; Hero Hondas Pawan Munjal; Religares chairman and MD Sunil Godhwani; Lupins promoter Nilesh Gupta; Future Group founder and CEO Kishore Biyani; JSW Steel vice-chairman and MD Sajjan Jindal; Ogilvy amp; Mather chairman and ad man Piyush Pandey; PVR Ltd chairman and MD Ajay Bijli; both Idea Cellulars 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 per cent of the total capacity. Reportedly,about 14,000 tickets have been distributed to cricket clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association,while the sports 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 Tendulkars 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 per cent of the total bets being placed with William Hill are in Indias 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.