MUMBAI-MORPHOSIS

As Wankhede gets ready to host India at a World Cup for the first time since that momentous night in 2011, a look at the city & the stadium, then and now

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

IT'S about 11.00 AM on Tuesday. The haze has just lifted and the sun is beginning to beat down. Wankhede is 51 hours out from hosting India at the World Cup. Outside the team hotel, the team bus has attracted a bevy of onlookers who have parked themselves by the Arabian Sea to catch a glimpse of Rohit Sharma & Co.

Twelve years ago, the Class of 2011 took the same route on the morning of the final against the same opponents, Sri Lanka. After they won the World Cup that day, Marine Drive was jammed. The team bus took 90 minutes to traverse the short distance between the Wankhede and the hotel where they were staying.

Meet Dangarwala, one of many who saw the 2011 final in the flesh, described it as a 'baarat' (wedding procession). "It was a party that night," he remembers of a city that "had come to a standstill". There were no such scenes on Tuesday. It took them less than 10 minutes to reach the Stadium.