Sachin Tendulkar! Just the name is enough to draw crowds, and the situation in the run up to the second Test at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium is no different
In fact, this time round, there seems to be a bit of more emotion involved concerning Tendulkar, as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men gear up to take on Alastair Cook’s England at the Churchgate venue. Tomorrow’s Test will, in all probability, be Tendulkar’s last on his home ground, where he won the 2011 World Cup — his long cherished dream.u00a0
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The Wankhede Stadium is not likely to host a Test match in the next couple of years, and it’s no wonder then, that Mumbai’s cricket fans are keen to ensure they watch their hero here. Sunday — the first day of online ticket sales for the Mumbai Test — saw nearly Rs four lakh worth of tickets purchased via the Internet. In the next three days, a whopping Rs 30 lakhs have been the collection from online ticket sales.
“Sachin Tendulkar could well be one of the biggest reasons for such a huge demand for tickets for this Test,” Mumbai Cricket Association’s vice-president Vinod Deshpande told MiD DAY yesterday.
There could be other reasons too, said Deshpande. “Another factor could be that the match is on a weekend. Nonetheless, we are very happy with the response. This is only the online sales figure. Tickets sold to clubs and at our box office will be calculated later,” he added. u00a0