CHENNAI: On the eve of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, one of the listed venues for the tournament, has been denied permission to host matches by the Bengaluru Police. Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh confirmed the same during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association had asked for permission to host the match, which will also feature Virat Kohli, who will be playing for Delhi, without any spectators, but the state home minister G Parameshwara-constituted committee denied. They had visited the venue on Monday. Now, the games have been moved to BCCI Centre of Excellence.
"There may be some confusion among you (media) whether there is permission to hold a cricket match or not (at Chinnaswamy stadium). There is no need for confusion. As you are aware, our committee had gone there yesterday. Based on the committee's recommendation, permission has been rejected. So there is no match there tomorrow," Singh told reporters.
This would have been the first senior team match at the venue since the stampede during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL-winning celebrations in June. As many as 11 people died in the unfortunate incident following which the venue was stopped from hosting any matches. A commission was formed with Justice John Michael Cunha to investigate and it had reportedly concluded that the "design and structure" of the stadium were "unsuitable and unsafe" for mass gatherings.
The newly-elected KSCA administration headed by former India cricketer Venkatesh Prasad, meanwhile, said in a statement that the previous administration did not provide the desired follow-up to the findings of the commission. "The Association looks forward to receiving the detailed inputs, observations, and recommendations from the authorities forming part of the Review Committee and assures that all such recommendations will be implemented in a structured and time-bound manner KSCA remains fully committed to implementing all practicable safety, security, and infrastructure-related measures at the earliest," Vinay Mruthyunjaya. KSCA spokesperson said in a statement. "In the interim, the Vijay Hazare matches have been shifted to the BCCI Centre of Excellence, NCA," he added.