‘It was a miracle that Wankhede got ready in time’

There was not a single day which went peacefully. It ended up being one big screaming match between us and the poor workers. I laugh now when I think back. There were issues like the cement spreading near the outfield while work was being done. One day,the big pipes,which transfer cement to the first floor,fell down and the whole field area was filled with grey cement. I got angry,the situation went out of control and I screamed ‘kaam band karo’. I abused them until their officers came down and calmed me. The next two days went in clearing cement from the field and all workers had to move from the construction site to the field.

The sad part was we got areas in patches,so to combine these parts was not an easy task. Until the construction work of a particular stand got done,we didn’t have access to that area. There was the drainage system to be installed and constant floating sand on the outfield. We hired 70 people for the ground job and many times the big cranes damaged the pipes. The whole work needed to start all over again and it wasn’t like a building construction where work can be done brick by brick. We had to wait a lot.

People were worried about the pitch. There were reports that Wankhede was not ready. We had an idea of how the pitch would behave,we called many local boys here and asked them to bowl. We worked until wee hours to make this venue ready for the World Cup. There was prestige at stake and I still think it was a miracle that Wankhede got ready in time. I will surely try to write a book on my experiences in making that outfield one day.