Police readying security plan for World Cup matches

Australia and UK authorities were on Tuesday briefed about the arrangements for their players ahead of the tournament, Lucknow police said

Ahead of the five 2023 Cricket World Cup matches that Lucknow will host, police here are preparing the ground for an effective security and mob control plan, and sketching out the movement of international teams, said Lucknow joint commissioner of police (JCP) (Law & Order) Upendra Agarwal on Wednesday.

While Australia, Sri Lanka and the Dutch will play two matches each in Lucknow, England, South Africa, India and Afghanistan will play one match each here. (File)

While the World Cup will commence on October 5, the City of Nawabs will witness its first match, at Ekana International Stadium, of the tournament on October 12 when Australia and South Africa go against each other. In other four fixtures, Australia and Sri Lanka will collide on October 16, Netherlands and Sri Lanka on October 21, India and England on October 29 and Netherlands and Afghanistan on November 3.

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While Australia, Sri Lanka and the Dutch will play two matches each in Lucknow, England, South Africa, India and Afghanistan will play one match each here.

He said officials from the embassies of the United Kingdom and Australia in India visited the city on Tuesday and were briefed about the security arrangements. “We had a long discussion over security issues. We are working on making necessary adjustments as suggested by the two embassies,” he stated.

Agarwal said the authorities were made aware of the security arrangements being made at the stadium as well as hotels where the players will stay during their Lucknow visits.

“We will also keep tab on every foreign visitor coming to Lucknow to support the teams of their countries. Lucknow police are in constant touch with embassies of countries whoses teams will be visiting the city,” he added.

He said a rehearsal of the security plan implementation would be carried out two days before the matches and no stones would be left turned. He said the authorities of both the embassies were satisfied with the police’s security plan. He said it was likely that authorities from other countries would also visit Lucknow to assess the security plan before the tournament.