Taking note of Wankhede Stadium’s ground staff’s hard work, the confectionery company Cadbury decided to reward the groundsmen with five-star comfort. The groundsmen also been given uniforms designed by the celebrity designer Masaba Gupta along with food and a bus to take them to the ground and back.
Vasant Mohite, 57, one of the groundsmen, spoke to The Indian Express about how different this luxurious lifestyle is compared to their usual struggles. He said there were whispers that they would be given five-star accommodation during the 2022 Indian Premier League season but couldn’t quite believe it until the Mumbai Cricket Association made it official.
“A Miracle”,
he exclaimed.
He also revealed how they had to sleep in a small room at the stadium as the matches would end late and they couldn’t go home with train services being shut.
“Machhar kaat ke dimag kharab kar deta hai (mosquitoes would drive us mad). After the match, we could not go anywhere as train services were shut. So we would sleep in our office at the ground itself.
If there is no game, we reach the stadium by 9 am and leave by 6 pm. But on match days, we come in early, and the MCA pays double if we work late,”
he Vasant.
“Walking to the dressing room is different now. We have our own bus which drops us. We don’t have words… the only thing we can say is thank you,”
quoted fellow groundsman Nitin Mohite.
Vasant has been a dressing-room attendant at Wankhede during match-days since the ’90s, serving players and support staff. He has been there since Sunil Gavaskar’s days to Prithvi Shaw’s generation. Mohite revealed he has been lucky to witness and serve some legendary cricketers.
The 57-year-old has a special fondness towards Mumbai players and shares how the likes of Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar used to make sure he never felt uncomfortable inside the dressing room. He concluded by recalling how emotional he was when Tendulkar made the gesture of touching the pitch at the end of his farewell.
