MCA's Kandivli ground to be named 'Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana'

The Mumbai Cricket Association on Tuesday revealed its grand plans for Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test, the last of his illustrious 24-year career, at the Wankhede next month.

Newly-elected MCA president Sharad Pawar announced that their swanky new clubhouse at Kandivli, in suburban Mumbai, will be named after the legendary cricketer, as 'Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana', at a gala ceremony on November 11.

"We want to organise a grand show on November 11. The first decision which has been taken by the managing committee unanimously is that the Kandivali ground will be named as the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana. This is one of the best facilities which has been developed by the MCA, and, let me tell you, it is better than the MCA club at the Bandra Kurla complex," said Pawar, in Mumbai, on Tuesday.

Pawar said the MCA will have a grand ceremony and invite players from both the India and West Indies Test teams. The West Indies team arrives in Mumbai on November 11 after the first Test in Kolkata, from November 6-10.

"We have requested BCCI president N Srinivasan that we want to invite the Indian team and West Indian team, which in principle has accepted. We have also requested the BCCI president to be present along with all his office-bearers. We also invited the honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra -- which he has accepted; also the Governor of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray and a lot of other dignitaries, like Members of Parliament, government officials and others.

"We have also decided to invite all Ranji Trophy players who represented Mumbai, all Test cricketers from Mumbai, and this includes both men's and women's teams," the veteran administrator said.

The Union agriculture minister said there will be special match tickets for the second Test following Kolkata's decision to have Tendulkar's photo on the tickets for the Eden Gardens tie.

"Another important decision has been taken is that the branding of the daily tickets will have Sachin Tendulkar photos on both sides; this will be the speciality of this particular match," he said.

Asked how many tickets will be available for the general public from the total seating capacity of nearly 33,000, Pawar replied that a committee will be formed to look into it, since a lot of requests have come from the government, BCCI and others.

"We are going to set up a small committee to finalise ticket rates, how many tickets will be available for sale. We have commitments from BCCI, Government of Maharashtra, from our own club members, for Mumbai Police and others, so there is a lot of commitment, but we have to make sure that a certain number of tickets are available for the public as well," he said.

Pawar claimed the MCA is getting a lot of requests from all over the world for tickets for the Mumbai Test and finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests.

"First time, we are getting requests from USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan… all Test cricket-playing countries are requesting us for tickets for the Test matches. A lot of Sachin fans from different parts of the world want to come for this match and that is why our position is difficult, but we will manage," he said.