City gymkhanas hit by new guidelines

The Vijay Merchant Pavilion at Wankhede. Pic/mid-day archives

Bombay Gymkhana, Parsee Gymkhana, Islam Gymkhana, PJ Hindu Gymkhana and Catholic Gymkhana - the five founding members of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) - have been told by the governing body of city cricket that they would be given a reduced number of tickets for five matches of the ongoing World Cup as against original allocation.

It is learnt that the MCA decided to make an additional 9,000 tickets available to the general public from the quota of the five Gymkhanas as per fresh guidelines from the ICC and BCCI.

The Wankhede Stadium will host five games including the first semi-final on November 15.

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Islam Gymkhana cricket secretary Mohsin Shaikh said the new guidelines mean they will be getting 25 per cent less tickets.

"MCA had allotted 631 tickets to Islam Gymkhana and accordingly, we paid for these tickets. But now, we get a letter from MCA to say we will get 473 tickets (Vijay Merchant Pavilion Level 1). We have requested the MCA to give us the earlier quota and are awaiting their response. We will discuss this issue in our managing committee," Mohsin said on Monday.

PJ Hindu Gymkhana cricket secretary Maulik Merchant said: "For the 2011 World Cup, we got around 1,250 tickets, but MCA allotted us 806 tickets for this World Cup. Now, they will be giving us 606 tickets. It's a big event and we have decided to help MCA in this regard."

Parsee Gymkhana (originally allotted 946 tickets), got 606 tickets during 2011 ODI World Cup. As per MCA's fresh directive, they face a 25 per cent hit.

It is learnt that Bombay Gymkhana and Catholic Gymkhana have decided to agree to MCA's new ticket allocation just like PJ Hindu.