CHENNAI: The West Indies series is turning out to be an organisational headache for the BCCI. Allocation of free tickets has become a major point of stand-off between the host associations and the CoA, which is trying to implement the new rule of putting up 90% of tickets for public sale.
Following the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association’s refusal to host the second ODI allotted to Indore, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) will write to the CoA on Friday saying that it will not stage the second T20I if the tickets rule is not relaxed. This decision was taken at an executive council meeting of the TNCA on Thursday evening.
“We will send a letter saying that we won’t be in a position to conduct the match if they stick to the rule of 10% complementary tickets,” a TNCA official told Express. “We have about 23,000 seats (with three stands closed). After obliging the BCCI, other stakeholders, our own members, clubs, patrons and government agencies, around 15,000 tickets can be put up for public sale. We will be happy to organise the match if we are allowed to stick to this arrangement.” The TNCA has not signed an agreement staging associations are supposed to.
If the CoA doesn’t accept the TNCA’s proposal of sticking to the old system of distributing free passes, the match slated for November 11 has to be shifted. The ODI scheduled in Indore on October 24 has already been moved to Vizag. As things stood late on Thursday, the BCCI/CoA will have to look for another venue in place of Chennai. This number may increase if other associations too express inability to follow the 10% rule.
Explaining the TNCA’s stand, the official added, “To conduct matches you need the help of various agencies. The state government itself will account for 10% of tickets. We conduct many tournaments and there are people who help us by giving the grounds. It’s an old association and practices followed for a long time can’t be stopped suddenly.”
Of other centres given matches in the West Indies series, the associations of Assam, Kerala and West Bengal are yet to sign the agreement. They are likely to convey their decisions by this week.
atreyo@newindianexpress.com