MCA to honour Mantri, Tendulkar, Rahane with lounge

MCA president Ajinkya Naik at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. PIC/Ashish Raje

The Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) 87th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday decided to honour deceased president and Test wicketkeeper-batsman Madhav Mantri and ex-India captains Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane by allocating designated lounges for them at Wankhede Stadium.

Mantri, a former national selector, passed away aged 92 in 2014. Tendulkar, who played his 200th and final Test at Wankhede in 2013, was earlier honoured with a statue at the stadium.

Rahane, who led Mumbai to the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy title, recently announced his international retirement. "We have decided to allocate a designated lounge for our former president and cricketer Madhav Mantri sir, and ex-Mumbai and India captains Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane. Our committee will decide the designated spot soon," MCA president Ajinkya Naik said after the AGM.

The AGM also increased the corpus fund for grassroots and club cricket from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore over the next 10 years. "We increased it to Rs 500 crore for our grassroots cricketers, maidan, school and college clubs. We will keep this money in fixed deposits and distribute the interest among various clubs," Naik said. The MCA will also create a Wankhede wall featuring names of people who have contributed to the game.