Brabourne Stadium

The Brabourne Stadium is India's first permanent sporting venue located at Churchgate, Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is owned by the Cricket Club of India and currently houses the headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The 1983 World Cup trophy was placed here until 2006 when it was moved to the newly constructed Wankhede Stadium.

Brabourne Stadium Capacity

With a capacity of 20,000, it has been the second home for the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians. It hosted the Test match between India and Sri Lanka in December 2009 creating a record for the biggest gap between two tests at the same ground. The game saw India registering an innings victory.

This stadium saw Sachin Tendulkar hit his first double century and steering his team to victory in a first-class cricket match between Mumbai and Australia in 1997-98.

History

The stadium was named after Lord Brabourne who initiated the construction of the stadium which was designed by Neville de Mello on 22nd May 1936. They aimed to accommodate 35,000 spectators. The stadium hosted the Pentangular Series which shifted from the Bombay Gymkhana in 1937-38.

Before the separation of Bombay Cricket Association in 1973, seventeen test events were added to the list of events hosted in this stadium. A One Day International match between Pakistan and Australia was played at Brabourne after a long gap of thirteen years.

The first professional match to be played at the ground was in 1937 when Lord Tennyson's XI played against CCI XI in a first-class match. Brabourne hosted 17 Test matches between 1948 and 1973, starting with two matches against the West Indies in India which resulted in a stalemate. The stadium has hosted 8 ODI matches and interestingly only one match was played by India here which was in November 1995 against New Zealand in which India won the match.

Major Matches

The only T20 international that was played here was on October 20, 2007, when Australia lost the match by seven wickets to the hosts, thanks to Gautam Gambhir’s half-century. This happened to be the first Twenty20 International on Indian soil.

The match between India and Australia on October 10, 1964, was an absolute cracker of a match in which India held the nerve to win the match by 2 wickets with MAK Pataudi playing a captain's knock and helping India chase the target in the 4th Innings.

Controversies

The Brabourne Stadium played host to seven home matches of the Mumbai Indians in the third season after they were denied the chance to host the IPL-2 Finals after Rajasthan Royals who were the Champions of the Inaugural season chose as the tournament was moved to South Africa due to various reasons. The Mumbai Police charged a then-record ₹ 9.8 million for providing security for these matches.

In the 1970s, the CCI had a rough relationship with their tenants – the Bombay Cricket Association (BCA) – owing mostly to the disputes regarding the allotment of seats. In one instance, BCA even threatened to stage a Test at Shivaji Park with temporary stands.

Cricket Club of India turned down the offer to host the IPL matches in the inaugural season as IPL authorities wanted the club to hand over the pavilion to them on match days.

Recent Matches

In December 2012, the stadium was amongst the 5 stadiums to host the 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup matches. The final of the tournament was held on 17 February 2013 at Brabourne Stadium where Australia beat West Indies.

The last international Test match that was played here was between Sri Lanka and India in December 2009, which the hosts won by an innings and 24 runs with Virender Sehwag missing the triple century mark by just 7 runs.