Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Monday sought an explanation from the state’s Cricket Association (OAC) over the glitch in one LED floodlight tower in Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium during Sunday’s India-England one-day international match. The match was stopped for 35 minutes due to the goof-up.
Odisha sports director Siddharth Das wrote to OCA secretary Sanjay Behera, asking for an explanation in the next 10 days on why such a major lapse occurred despite adequate preparations.
On Sunday evening, when India batted chasing a target of 304 runs, one of the floodlights went off after the sixth over. It came back quickly, but after another ball, it went off once again. The players and umpires waited for about 10 minutes before walking off the ground. At that stage, India, chasing 305, was at 48 for no loss in 6.1 overs with captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill batting on 29 and 17, respectively.
The play had to be stopped for 35 minutes before the stadium staff managed to switch on the lights, which were installed as part of the renovation process in 2022. “The generator attached to the floodlight malfunctioned, so the lights were off on that tower near the clock tower. We got the back-up generator on. It took some time to change the connection from one generator to the other, which caused the delay,” said an OCA official.
OCA secretary Sanjay Behera said, “Each floodlight tower had two generators as backup. During the match, one of the generators for the affected floodlight tower malfunctioned. When we attempted to switch to the second generator, we found that a vehicle used for transporting players was parked between the tower and the generator. We had to contact the driver and get him to move the vehicle before we could restore the power supply.”
{{/usCountry}}OCA secretary Sanjay Behera said, “Each floodlight tower had two generators as backup. During the match, one of the generators for the affected floodlight tower malfunctioned. When we attempted to switch to the second generator, we found that a vehicle used for transporting players was parked between the tower and the generator. We had to contact the driver and get him to move the vehicle before we could restore the power supply.”
{{/usCountry}}Slamming the government, opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Arun Sahoo said the incident showed how the state government was committed toward organising international matches. “The incident has brought a bad reputation for Odisha,” he said. Congress MLA Sofia Firdous also came down heavily on the government for the fiasco. She said what happened at the Barabati Stadium was unfortunate and an impartial investigation should be carried out into the incident.
The Barabati Stadium where the match was played has been sublet to the Odisha Cricket Association by the Odisha Olympic Association that was given the lease by the Odisha government.
The stadium has a capacity to seat more than 45,000 spectators.