VISAKHAPATNAM: Huge disappointment for the cricket lovers of North Coastal Andhra region as no match of Indian Premier League (IPL)-2017 has been allotted to Visakhapatnam, going by the schedule released on Wednesday night. The 10th season of the IPL will kickstart on April 5 in Hyderabad and the final match will be on May 21. A total of 60 matches will be played in 47 days at various locations.
This is the second consecutive time, Visakhapatnam was not allotted any match. In the last IPL season too the ACA-VDCA YSR Stadium was not allotted any match in the released schedule. However, after water scarcity issue came to light at cricket stadiums in Mumbai and Pune, Visakhapatnam has become a home for Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) which was led by former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Again this year, no match was allotted to Visakhapatnam.
Hyderabad, Benguluru, Delhi, Rajkot, Indore, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kanpur and Mohali will host all the 60 matches. Each IPL team will have to play 14 matches, including seven at their home venues. Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium of Hyderabad has got a rare opportunity of hosting both inaugural and final matches.
Sports analyst and director of Physical Education department at Andhra University, Vijay Mohan opined: “Perhaps the officials might have skipped Vizag as none of the IPL teams is from Andhra Pradesh. Last year, it was very fortunate to have two IPL teams with Vizag as home ground. We came to their rescue when water crisis arose.”
A sports buff and owner of Moksha Restocafe Sashikanth Sukumaran said that this was a huge disappointment for cricket lovers. “Vizag hosted Test cricket match and T-20 last year successfully. The stadium is loved by a number of Indian players and moreover the city has all facilities. The officials should have considered this venue,” he said. “I feel like last year, some states would express their inability to provide water for stadium and then officials would again choose Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Dharmasala or Chennai,” he said.
Former Test cricket Umpire and Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association (VDCA) secretary K Parthasaradhy said that they too had no hope of hosting IPL matches in Vizag this season. “Though it’s disappointing, the decision of selecting venues completely depends on the franchises. In previous years, the Sun Risers Hyderabad (SRH) opted Vizag as home ground due to the Telangana agitation.