ODI World Cup – Bengal cricket requests BCCI to reschedule Pakistan-England recreation
The Cricket Affiliation of Bengal (CAB) has requested the BCCI to maneuver the England vs Pakistan ODI World Cup recreation, scheduled to be performed at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on November 12, to a different date, suggesting November 11 in its place. The event got here after the town police knowledgeable CAB that they’re anticipating enhanced safety for the sport as Pakistan are one of many groups. November 12 can also be the date for Kali Puja, one of many metropolis’s, and the area’s, most vital Hindu festivals.
ESPNcricinfo has learnt that CAB officers had a gathering with metropolis police authorities on Thursday, and had been knowledgeable in regards to the law-and-order considerations on the day of the pageant. Following that, the affiliation wrote to Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, requesting the date change.
This comes shut on the heels of the Ahmedabad police expressing its incapability to supply safety for the India vs Pakistan recreation on October 15, because it clashed with the primary day of the nine-day Hindu pageant of Navaratri, probably the most vital festivals in Gujarat, of which Ahmedabad is part, and plenty of different components of northern India. The sport – nonetheless in Ahmedabad – has since been moved to October 14, although the ICC or the BCCI is but to make an official assertion to that impact.
Kolkata Police’s place shouldn’t be best, managing a serious non secular occasion and a high-profile cricket match on the identical day.
The CAB’s place is an unenviable one. In 2011, when the ODI World Cup was final performed in India, Kolkata, and the town’s iconic Eden Gardens, was deemed unfit to host the India vs England recreation. The venue did host three video games, which didn’t contain India, in 2011.
CAB, and cricket followers in Kolkata, would not need to be in a state of affairs the place the big-ticket England vs Pakistan recreation is moved to a different metropolis, and it’s understood the affiliation officers have additionally reached out to Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, to attempt to intervene.
The unique schedule of the World Cup had Eden Gardens marked to host 5 video games: Bangladesh vs Netherlands on October 28, Bangladesh vs Pakistan on October 31, India vs South Africa on November 5, England vs Pakistan on November 12, and the second semi-final on November 16.The schedule of the World Cup was launched after a protracted delay on June 27, simply 100 days earlier than the scheduled begin of the event on October 5 in Ahmedabad, whereas the schedules for the final two editions of the event, in Australia and New Zealand (2015) and England and Wales (2019) had been out greater than 12 months prematurely.
The World Cup is scheduled to start with reigning champions England taking over New Zealand and finish on November 19, however there may be nonetheless no replace on when the tickets will go on sale.
