The Mumbai Cricket Association has announced plans to establish dedicated stadium lounges at the Wankhede Stadium honouring former India captains Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane, alongside late local legend Madhav Mantri.
The decision pairs recently retired Rahane with Mumbai’s most celebrated figure, immortalising their generational legacy at the premier venue. A three-member committee comprising MCA vice-president Jitendra Awhad, Milind Narvekar and Adv. Ujwal Nikam will identify and configure the spatial allocations within the stadium.
“We have decided to allocate a designated lounge for them. We have appointed a three-member committee joined by secretaries,” MCA president Ajinkya Naik told the Hindustan Times.
Major Grassroots Endowment
The lounge designations were resolved during an annual general meeting that also established a massive ₹500 crore corpus fund to develop grassroots infrastructure. The endowment structure is designed to generate recurring interest income for affiliated maidan, school and college clubs without eroding the principal amount.
Organisations will retain full autonomy over how they apply these distributions across playing equipment, training kits, ground facilities or logistical costs.
“In the last AGM we had made it ₹100 crore but this time we have made it ₹500 crore for our grassroots cricket and clubs. Sometimes they use it for logistics, or for equipment,” Naik added to the Hindustan Times.
Work is also under way to erect a statue of Dilip Vengsarkar at the complex, further expanding the governing body’s effort to recognise heritage figures. The spatial committee is expected to report back to the apex council once the dedicated spaces are finalised.
