Police add to accreditation mess

If the Jason Gillespie accreditation mess, reported by HT on Thursday, did not expose chinks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) organisation enough, the next day has proved the IPL organisers have failed to get even basics covered.

If the Jason Gillespie accreditation mess, reported by HT on Thursday, did not expose chinks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) organisation enough, the next day has proved the IPL organisers have failed to get even basics covered.

HT Image

The accreditation passes provided to local officials, service staff and the media were worth zilch as none of them were allowed to enter the Wankhede stadium without a card authorised by the additional commissioner of police of CID, Mumbai.

This meant that outside the pavilion entrance, a booth was created for the local officials to get their police passes issued.

However, some of the top Mumbai Cricket Association officials flatly refused, instead entering with match tickets.

Even those fans who came in early to watch their favourite players train were starved for an hour as the police didn’t allow vendors of snacks and water bottles — not all of them had their police passes ready — to enter the stands for a long time.

For the media, the least cared for community in Indian cricket, it was as bad, if not worse. Some scribes were handed their police passes by an MCA official after clearing the first of almost half a dozen security checks.

However, those without passes easily outnumbered the privileged ones. And even those whose passes were ready were taken aback by how they had been prepared.

No scribe was informed, either by the BCCI, MCA or the Mumbai Indians, about the police verification cards.

Interestingly, the police card was not required for the media even during the World Cup final. Looks like the IPL is more security sensitive!