India: Stumpy takes strike
STUMPY'S ready. The bluish-grey elephant mascot of the 2011 cricket World Cup is the "face" of the cricket bonanza that gets underway in the sub-continent on Feb 19: The day co-hosts India and Bangladesh - Sri Lanka is the other co-host for this event - lock horns in Dhaka in the first of the 49 one-day games to be played.
Considered the third biggest sporting event in the world - after the Olympic Games and the FIFA football World Cup - the cricket World Cup will see 14 teams in the fray: Group A features Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya; Group B comprises India, England, South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh, Netherlands and Ireland.
While the players gear up for battle, the organisers are still in the process of getting the battlefields ready.
As for the fans, Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar is asking them "who they are following" in the World Cup while beaming down from giant hoardings on the crowded roads of most Indian metros.
This edition of the World Cup - a tournament that comes under the auspices of the International Cricket Council (ICC) - will see a revamp of the cricket system in India.
The various domestic cricket associations are hiring a plethora of experts in logistics, communications, food and beverages as they race to restore their age-old stadiums in a bid to cope with the needs and rigours of the modern game.
Entering the offices of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters, situated at the entrance of the Wankhede Stadium in SoBo (South Mumbai for the uninitiated), one is greeted by a huge glow-sign that is counting down the time for the start of the tournament, right down to the second.
A big cut-out of Stumpy stares at visitors who are soon enveloped by a beehive of activity.
A short distance away, one hears the rumble of monstrous machines and the shouts of labourers working at frenetic pace, putting finishing touches to the Wankhede Stadium.
Similar construction sounds reverberate through the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the M.A. Chidambaram stadium in Chennai and the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium located in the heart of the garden city, Bangalore.
The BCCI team lead by Professor Ratnakar Shetty is going all out to ensure that the tournament is a successful one. Stadiums at the eight venues in India - Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mohali, Nagpur, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore - are being spruced up.
While most of them are getting face-lifts, Wankhede Stadium will have a completely new look.
"The stadiums are almost ready and we are looking at full completion by mid January," said the genial Prof Shetty who is the chief administrative officer of the BCCI.
Former India batsman and the honorary secretary of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Lalchand Rajput explained the rationale behind the extensive work being done on the Wankhede Stadium.
"The stadium is 36 years old and was built before the advent of one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches," he said. "In those days the stadium catered to Tests and the longer format of the game which rarely saw packed houses."
The MCA managing committee decided to rebuild the stadium and equip it with state-of the-art facilities to improve spectator comfort.
Wooden benches are now replaced by bucket seats while modern toilets and catering facilities are in place. In a nod to the corporate dollar, the number of VIP boxes has been bumped up to 58 from just 14.
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