‘Delhi almost certain to lose 4th Test’,
The fourth and final Test match is 99 per cent going out of Delhi’s Ferozeshah Kotla and we are making arrangements to move the match to Pune.
INDIAN CRICKET BOARD OFFICIAL
Time is running out fast for the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) to stage the fourth Test between India and South Africa starting on December 4.
HT learnt late on Saturday that the three-member committee appointed by the Delhi government to assess the issues and corruption in the DDCA had submitted a scathing report.
Earlier in the day, committee members Chetan Sanghi and Rahul Mehra met BCCI president Shashank Manohar in Nagpur. BCCI sources said the president did not show any interest in bailing out DDCA. Sources suggested that Manohar’s response has convinced the Board to shift the match out of the Ferozeshah Kotla.
The Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune, the standby venue, is ready to step in.
A top BCCI official told HT, “The fourth Test match is 99 per cent going out of Delhi and we are making arrangements to move the match to Pune.” It is also learnt that Pune has conveyed its readiness in terms of ground and pitch preparation, and other facilities.
The BCCI had set a deadline of November 17 for the DDCA to get necessary government clearances but Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal instituted the committee to investigate allegations of corruption and other irregularities. MANY CONTROVERSIES The DDCA has also been mired in cricketing controversies since the beginning of the domestic season like selection of the team and coach. Besides, financial mismanagement has come to such a pass that the DDCA will have to pay R24.46 crore as entertainment tax dues for the period 2008-2012 to get government clearance to host the match.
Amid such mismanagement, the BCCI had stopped its annual grants to the DDCA for failing to submit accounts for the last two years. The Delhi government clarified that the issue of DDCA dues is independent of the BCCI’s November 17 deadline. This in effect has diminished the hopes of the DDCA getting some govern- ment support.