Ekana Stadium to host World Cup match between India & England on Oct 29
A World Cup match in Lucknow will be a big respite for the Ekana stadium, which has been facing a lot of criticism for its ‘low-bounce and slow’ pitches.
LUCKNOW After successfully hosting seven Indian Premier League matches of its home team ‘Lucknow Super Giants’ in May, the city’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium is all set to host the World Cup cricket match between India and England on October 29.
A World Cup match in Lucknow will be a big respite for the Ekana stadium, which has been facing a lot of criticism for its ‘low-bounce and slow’ pitches. Only last week, the redrafting of the upper layer of all nine pitches was done and now, they are expected to be bouncy and speedy.
The other reason for Lucknow getting an important World Cup match is the spin friendly pitches in Lucknow as the Team India has reportedly requested BCCI for the same. “Lucknow pitches are spinners-friendly, and the team India have requested for such tracks to make full use of the opportunities,” said a key functionary in BCCI on condition of anonymity. “Lucknow may get a few more matches too.”
“We are ready to host World Cup matches here. It’s a matter of pride, if we get the hosting rights of the mega event here,” said Ekana Sportz City’s managing director Udai Sinha on Monday. “The repairing of the pitches has been done and by September end, they would be ready for international matches,” he said.
As per the initial draft schedule of the 2023 ODI World Cup, submitted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the International Cricket Council (ICC), India would be playing nine league matches in the mega event, scheduled to be held from October 5 to November 13. ICC has reportedly shared the draft with all the participating countries for feedback before a final schedule is out early next week.
Besides the Lucknow’s match on October 29, India would be playing against Australia on October 8 at Chennai; against Afghanistan at New Delhi on October 11; against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 15 at Ahmedabad; against Bangladesh on October 19 at Pune; against New Zealand on October 22 at Dharmsala; against a qualifier on November 2 at Mumbai; against South Africa on November 5 at Kolkata; and against second qualifier on November 11 at Bengaluru, said an espncricinfo.com report.
The report also states that Pakistan are scheduled to play across five venues during the league phase. Apart from the India match in Ahmedabad, Pakistan are slotted to meet the two teams progressing from the Qualifier on October 6 and 12 in Hyderabad, and then Australia in Bengaluru (October 20), Afghanistan (October 23) and South Africa (October 27) in Chennai, Bangladesh in Kolkata (October 31), New Zealand in Bengaluru (November 5, day match) and England in Kolkata (November 12), which in the proposed schedule is the final match of the league phase.
