Officials visited the Wankhede Stadium to check on its
status and will make a similar inspection of the Eden Gardens in Calcutta on
Tuesday.
Both venues missed the original deadline for construction of
Nov. 30, and the ICC ordered faster progress so the stadiums could be ready for
handover to the ICC on Jan. 31.
The World Cup, being jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh, starts on Feb. 19.
Mumbai will host two matches on March 13 and 17 and the
final on April 2. Calcutta will host four matches, the first on Feb. 27 between
India and England.
Mumbai Cricket Association joint-secretary Lalchand Rajput
said the ICC officials were satisfied with the Wankhede Stadium.
“They were glad that the deadline has been met with,” Rajput
told said. “They were in particular happy with the dressing
rooms, media facilities, match officials' rooms and also the box for ICC
officials.” Rajput also said that three giant television screens and a huge
manual scoreboard had impressed them.
The ICC had pinpointed the need for more work on areas such
as landscaping, fencing, umpire changing rooms, anti-doping and medical rooms,
seating for spectators and media, and uninterrupted power supply for
floodlights.
Though the field had not been a concern at either venue, the
slow progress in other parts of the complex had been a worry.
Criticism of the slow construction was being compared to the
buildup to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last October, when officials
raced to the last minute to prepare venues and the athletes village.
