CHENNAI: During the ODI World Cup final between hosts India and Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium last year, a pro-Palestine pitch invader breached the security cordon and got as far as star batter Virat Kohli before being apprehended and escorted out.
The pitch invasion happened again during the first Test against England in Hyderabad in January. A fan wearing Kohli's Test jersey reached the middle to meet India captain Rohit Sharma before the start of the hosts' innings. He touched Rohit's feet before being escorted out by security personnel.
These incidents apparently made the BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) come up with a plan to counter frequent pitch invasions. It put an arrangement in place on an experimental basis since the third Test in Rajkot and implemented the same during the ongoing Women's Premier League. Buoyed by the positive results, the ACU is going to execute the plan on a large scale during the IPL, the first phase of which will begin in Chennai on March 22. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will host Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
While the WPL is being played only in two cities — the first leg was held in Bengaluru followed by matches in New Delhi, the first phase of IPL will be held across 10 cities.
"A dedicated security liaisoning officer (SLO) will be stationed at each venue and he would be accompanied by around 20-25 commandos," a source in the know things told this daily. The ACU hires ex-Army officers as the SLOs. For commandos, it has hired former cops from state and central armed forces, ex-personnel from the Army, Navy and private guards.
"The only responsibility of the designated SLO is to counter pitch invasion threat. He will continuously move around the ground and will be assisted by commandos to keep a check on any unwanted movement into the playing area. The commandos would be scattered around the boundary ropes," the source added.
For the WPL, the ACU has hired around 15-20 commandos. Earlier, the ground used to be manned by the local police. "We used to leave it on local police in the past but it was not yielding desired results so we thought of giving responsibility to our SLOs, who anyway are responsible for the security of teams."
"The point came up for discussion after every series and tournament and it was noted that somehow, this (pitch invasion) menace could not be countered effectively. Given the situation, the ACU after consulting BCCI decided to take the responsibility," added the source.
The ACU has also started briefing players and other stakeholders about possible corrupt approaches during the IPL. It has started briefing and educating them apart from encouraging them to report any corrupt approach. The schedule for the second leg of the tournament is likely to be announced once the dates for the general assembly are out. It is learnt that the matches will be played across 13 venues in the second leg.