NEW DELHI: Even though the World T20 is still a month and a half way, Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) is running against time to keep the matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla. This comes after the DDCA failed to get the necessary clearance for February 12’s second T20 between India and Sri Lanka, which forced the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to shift the game to Ranchi.
On Friday, DDCA’s hopes of conducting the T20 were dashed after the Delhi HC refused to direct the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to provide the state body with the Provisional Occupancy Certificate (POC). With none of the options working, DDCA working president Chetan Chauhan informed the BCCI about their inability to host. “There was no way we could conduct since we were unable to get the clearances from the MCDs,” Chauhan told Express, adding that it will have no impact on the World T20.
“We have all the compliance certificates ready for the World T20, but we will only be able to get them on February 12,” Chauhan said. Even though the veteran administrator looked confident of hosting the games at Kotla, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur set a January 31 deadline for DDCA to be eligible to host the World T20 games. “As far as the World T20 is concerned, we have given DDCA a deadline till January 31 to procure all necessary NOCs failing which the seven allotted matches will be shifted to other venues,” Thakur told reporters in Mumbai.
The BCCI secretary also made it clear that they will not give any extension to the DDCA. “I have told them to provide us with all permissions in writing. If they don’t come with NOC by 5 pm on January 31st, matches will be shifted,” he added. However, the two-day deadline makes the job extremely difficult for the DDCA to convince the MCDs and obtain the clearances. “It is tough because January 30th and 31 are weekends. But we have to work on war-footing,” a senior DDCA official said.