The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) is reportedly planning to build a new cricket stadium with one lakh capacity after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed the need for it. During the Maharashtra government’s felicitation programme for the T20 World Cup winners Rohit Sharma and his teammates last week, Fadnavis said that Mumbai needed a cricket stadium with a crowd capacity of over one lakh.

“We have one of the historic stadiums in Mumbai in the form of Wankhede Stadium. Ashish ji (BCCI treasurer and BJP MLA Ashish Shelar) is here. Mumbai needs a bigger stadium than Wankhede. Therefore, in near future our chief minister will extend all possible help to MCA and BCCI. Wankhede is a historic stadium and cannot be compared to any other. But it is time to give Mumbai a stadium with a capacity of more than one lakh,” said Fadnavis.

It has now been reported by the Times of India that MCA is planning to build a bigger cricket stadium in Amane village in Thane district.

“The MCA is looking to build a massive 1 lakh capacity cricket stadium, spread on around 50 acres of open land in Amane, which is 26km off Thane, and 68km from the Wankhede Stadium. The MCA has filled the open tender floated by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to acquire the land parcel. The association is waiting for approval from the Maharashtra govt,” a source told the newspaper.

The source added that the new stadium will also have two grounds for first-class matches besides all the modern amenities.

During the ceremony arranged by the Maharashtra government, four cricketers from the state – Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Yashasvi Jaiswal – were felicitated. Also, a Rs 11 crore prize money was announced by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.