IPL final shifted to DY Patil stadium

Mumbai: The Indian Premier League organisers have shifted the June 1 final from the originally scheduled Wankhede Stadium in South Mumbai to the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai for a variety of reasons, Cricket Board sources said on Saturday.

"The final has been shifted and will now be held at DY Patil Stadium. One of the main reasons is that the TV production crew is not happy with the makeshift arrangements at the Wankhede Stadium which has already been taken up for renovation and there is space constraint for keeping their equipment," the sources told PTI.

The arrangements for the TV production crew includes temporary location of their vast paraphernalia adjacent to the makeshift restaurant located just behind the Garware Stadium stands, the sources added.

Another reason is that the DY Patil Stadium can hold 55,000 spectators as compared to 40,000 by Wankhede, which increases the revenue of the home team owners – Reliance Industries.

But the decision has not yet been communicated to the franchise owners of Mumbai Indians, the home team, by the IPL authorities who make the final call though the team owners have a say on the matter, said a spokesperson of the franchisee.

"There have been talks about one of the semifinals or the final being shifted to DY Patil, but we have not heard anything officially on the matter," he said.

The shift of the venue for the summit contest of the 44-day Twenty20 tournament is the second alteration made by the IPL authorities after the announcement of the schedule of the tournament and, in some ways, compensates for the shifting of two league stage matches from DY Patil Stadium to Wankhede.

Reasons given when these matches were shifted included the reluctance of the teams to travel long distances from their hotel in Central Mumbai to DY Patil Stadium and the lack of proper practice wickets at the Navi Mumbai venue.