Brabourne Stadium: Venue of ICC Champions Trophy 2006

The final of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2006 will be held at the Brabourne Stadium which is situated near the Churchgate railway station in the Indian city of Mumbai. Cricket Club of India (CCI) is the owner of this stadium. BCCI, the regulatory body of Indian cricket, is also located in this stadium.

Cricket Club of India (CCI) first took initiative to build a stadium in this place. The then secretary of BCCI and also CCI, Anthony de Mello, first went to negotiate with the Bombay governor Lord Brabourne about building a new cricket stadium. It is said that after the end of the meeting CCI secretary asked Lord Brabourne that which he would prefer from sportsmen between the money for government or immortality of himself. Lord Brabourne preferred the immortality of himself. That is why the stadium is still bearing the immortality of the governor as it was named after his name. Then CCI selected 90000 square yards and per square yard was 13.50.

The Architects of the stadium:

Messrs. Gregson,

Batley and King

The Construction Company for this stadium:

Shapoorji Pallonji & co

First Groundman of the Stadium:

Frank Tarrant

On May 22, 1936 Lord Brabourne laid the foundation of the stadium and it was opened by Sir Lawrence Roger Lumley, the Governor of Bombay, on December 7, 1937.

Though the estimated cost of this stadium was Rs. 1.8 million but the actual price was much higher than this figure and the other costs was donated by Abubhai Jasdenwala, Sir Nowroji Saklatwala, the Maharaja of Idar and Maharaja of Patiala.

The inaugural match was held on the day the stadium was opened and the match was held between CCI and Lord Tennyson's XI. The first test match of this stadium dated back to 1948 between India and West Indies. Till 1973 this stadium hosted 77 test matches and after 1973 there was not any international cricket for 16 years due to the dispute between CCI and Bombay Cricket Association over the allotment of seats.

Then in 1989 this stadium again started hosting international matches through its first ODI match between Australia and Pakistan. The stadium is also famous for hosting domestic cricket. It has already hosted 16 Ranji Trophy finals and Bombay Pentangular tournament.

The stadium has 20000 seating capacity. Floodlight system is also available in this stadium.

Related articles:

Wikipedia

Cricinfo