It was about five years back that cricket lovers in Pune last witnessed a One-Day International cricket match. They have not yet seen a Test match in Pune.

This state of affairs is due to the fact that the only stadium in the city where international class cricket matches can be played is the Nehru Stadium, and it majorly owned by the Pune Municipal Corporation. And it barely seats about 25,000 spectators.

Not only has the PMC failed to build a larger stadium which would have earned them handsome returns, it is because of its gross mismanagement that the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) refused to stage an ODI after 2005 in this stadium.

The ostensible reason was the cumbersome bureaucratic procedure entailed in the PMC to get permission for the stadium. The real reason was - in the last ODI, the politicians and bureaucrats cornered a bulk of the tickets as free passes, and barely 8,000 cricket lovers, ready to pay and watch, could see the match.

Of course, there is also the question why the MCA, one of the most financially well off cricket associations in India did not think of building their own stadium. But that is now history.

The MCA is now building a world-class stadium near Hinjewadi, on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway that will not only change the face of cricket in Pune, but also spin off a variety of commercial benefits for the city.

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