Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test generating huge demand worldwide: Sharad Pawar

There is a huge demand for tickets from fans across the world, including USA, to watch Sachin Tendulkar's 200th and farewell Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai next month leading to a tricky situation to accommodate all, said Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday.

"People from all the Test playing countries as well as America are demanding tickets to see the Test match. But we have prior commitments to several organisations including the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), our own clubs, government authorities etc, so we cannot say how many will be available for the public," said Pawar at a media conference in Mumbai.

The MCA chief, however, denied news reports that Tendulkar had demanded 2,000 tickets for the game.

"He has not asked for a single ticket but the MCA managing committee has taken a decision on Monday that we will give him 500 tickets," said Pawar.

The former BCCI president said that to mark the occasion, MCA was planning quite a few measures like printing the tickets with Tendulkar's photo on both sides, coming out with a souvenir dedicated to the champion batsman etc.

"We have also got an offer from a publication in Nagpur for printing a book containing 150-160 pages filled with details of all statistics of matches played by Tendulkar," said Pawar.

When a question was put to him about allowing Shahrukh Khan to watch the game, Pawar played safe and said all those people who have not been stopped from entering the MCA's premises can come and witness the Test match.

The Bollywood actor was banned by MCA for five years from entering the Wankhede Stadium for creating a ruckus during an Indian Premier League (IPL) game in 2012 by the previous regime

© PTI