MCA hopeful as IPL GC to decide on final

MUMBAI: Still hopeful that the IPL final will indeed be held at the Wankhede, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has requested the BCCI to reconsider the decision, after its managing committee meeting on Monday.
On Saturday, the IPL GC had announced that the final of the T20 tournament, to be held on June 1, would be shifted to Bangalore from Mumbai. The MCA had strongly objected to the shift, with president Sharad Pawar writing a letter to the IPL authorities seeking an explanation for the move.
"We are still hopeful that we will host the final. Sunil Gavaskar (BCCI president-IPL affairs) has told us that they will discuss the letter and come back to us with their ruling tomorrow. We are hoping it will be in favour of the MCA," MCA vice-president Ravi Savant told TOI on Monday.
Protesting against the BCCI move, MCA officials have handed over their IPL accreditations to the tournament organisers.
Savant claimed that no one in the BCCI or the IPL had expressed any kind of reservations about the Wankhede or doubted its capabilities to host the final.
Still, the MCA, in a letter to the BCCI, has promised to address any concerns about the venue. One issue was that no firecrackers could be burst at the Wankhede after 10pm because of the Maharashtra government's ruling in this regard.
"We told them that the Police Commissioner will give us special permission to burst firecrackers after 10 pm for the final," said MCA jt secretary PV Shetty.
Apparently, security officials left Gavaskar and IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal stranded at the stadium's gate for a prolonged period on May 3, the day Mumbai hosted the first match of the IPL season.
"The security for the IPL is in the hands of Reliance and not the MCA. But isn't it good for everyone that the security is tight. For the IPL GC last Saturday, we had two of our officials at the gate especially to help the GC members out," said Shetty.