Bengaluru and Vizag swap T20Is: The venues for both the T20Is against Australia later this month have been changed.
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The fixture for Australia’s tour of India 2019 has seen a change as the venues for the two T20Is have been swapped. The two matches were earlier slated to be played on February 24 and February 27 at Bengaluru and Vizag.
As per the new development, the first one will be played at Vizag and the second one at Bengaluru on the same dates.
Inadequate security arrangements in Bengaluru for February 24 is the major reason behind the swap. The city is scheduled to host Aero India Show, a major international event, and the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the same day.
The Police Commissioner in Bengaluru being unable to guarantee the required security due to the same forced the KSCA (Karnataka State Cricket Association) to initiate the step. Going by reports in Hindustan Times, the two state associations exchanged letters regarding the issue.
“Kindly refer to our telecon a few minutes back. As you are aware, we are to host the First T-20 match between India and Australia this year, in India, scheduled on Sunday, 24th February, 2019 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, as I mentioned to you there has been an adverse development that the Police Commissioner in Bangalore is unable to guarantee the required security support, police bandobast etc.
“In view of the above, we would request you to kindly consider swapping our T-20 match with yours i.e. you would host the First T-20 match on Sunday, 24th February, 2019 in Vizag and we would host the Second T-20 match on Wednesday, 27th February, 2019 in Bangalore. I would urge you to consider our request urgently and we would be grateful if you can kindly confirm this swapping of T-20 matches to us and more importantly to the Office Bearers,” the mail from Sanjay M. Desai, president of KSCA, to ACA general secretary Arun Kumar read.
“The forwarded email is self explanatory. The reasons assigned for acceding to the request are in order. An email formally accepting the request may kindly be sent to all concerned at the earliest. The two associations may accordingly prepare,” read BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary’s response to CoA (Committee of Administrators).
Apart from a couple of T20Is, India will host Australia for five ODIs, the first of which will be played on March 2 at Hyderabad. The ODI series will be India’s last attempt at zeroing in on their probable squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 which begins on May 30.
