Is Wankhede Stadium ready for World Cup?

While the cricket-loving people of Kolkata are distressed over the International Cricket Council's decision to take away the India vs England World Cup match from Eden Gardens, Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium has been cleared by the game's rulers.

A photograph of work in progress at the Wankhede Stadium which is
posted on in.com. Wankhede will host three games in the 2011 World Cup
which kicks off on Feb 19

However, according to a report in in.com, there is still a lot of work to be completed. "Sharad Pawar last week said that he was confident that the ICC team will be happy to see Wankhede, adding that the inspection team 'would have seen a miracle'.

What we however think is a more miraculous coincidence is that Pawar who heads the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) is also the ICC president," said the report which quotes Mumbai Cricket Association secretary and former Test cricketer Lalchand Rajput as saying, "The stadium will hold practice matches and the stands will be ready by that time."

However, according to the report, Rajput shot back, "none of your business" when he was asked about the dates of practice matches.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a ICC statement: "All venues had ample time in which to prepare for World Cup matches.

"We had been understanding and had provided extensions to the deadline dates but unfortunately we are now at a point where we must carefully manage our risks."

Wankhede will host the New Zealand-Canada game on March 13 and the Sri Lanka-New Zealand tie on March 18 apart from the final on April 2.