Expressing concern over the present seating capacity of Mumbai's Wankhede stadium, the newly elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Sharad Pawar said the city needs a big stadium.
"The present seating capacity of the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is 34,000. We want a big stadium there having seating capacity of 1.25 lakh so that MCA (Mumbai Cricket Association) will be able to provide more seats to the cricket lovers," Pawar, who is also the president of MCA, said in Nasik on Saturday.
The Union Agriculture minister said that due to the importance of international matches, Ranji Trophy matches are losing its sheen.
"There was a time when Ranji Trophy matches were famous. But due to the popularity and live telecast of one-day matches Ranji has become less important," he said, adding that Ranji matches should be conducted at the district levels.
The Mumbai Cricket Association chief said that he has no vested interest in team selection or other administrative matters.
"As a president, I am not taking any initiative in selecting players or modifying stadium but I have put up the responsibility on former Test players like Madhavrao Apte, Milind Rege, Sunil Gavaskar and others, who meet and take collective decisions."
Pawar said that there was a time in Test cricket when there were seven to eight players from Mumbai in the Indian national team, but today the numbers have come down.
He applauded Maharashtra Cricket Association president Ajay Shirke's move to develop Nasik stadium for the Ranji Trophy match between Maharashtra-Tamil Nadu Ranji to be played from December 17.