E-Paper
BCCI waiting for report on venues
BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah has said that the venues for the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 will be announced after a report is received from the officials of the Global Cricket Corporation who have undertaken a tour of six centres -- Jaipur, Nagpur, Mohali, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata -- to ascertain if the facilities available in these places meet the ICC requirements.
BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah has said that the venues for the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 will be announced after a report is received from the officials of the Global Cricket Corporation who have undertaken a tour of six centres -- Jaipur, Nagpur, Mohali, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata -- to ascertain if the facilities available in these places meet the ICC requirements.
The GCC has a seven-year agreement, signed in 2001, to market the ICC-promoted events like the World Cup, Champions Trophy and the under-19 World Cup. "The Champions Trophy will be held in three centres," Shah told HT.
The earlier BCCI administration had recommended Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata as venues for the biennial event. According to Shah, this was done without consulting Mumbai and Delhi, both of who have long-running contractual obligations with corporates.
"The ICC wants a clean stadium without any encumbrances. The ICC has been told about Delhi and Mumbai's commitments and hence the GCC officials are looking for alternate venues. A clear picture will emerge after the GCC officials complete the tour of the six centres."
It was also revealed that the previous administration knew of Delhi and Mumbai's obligations and might have awarded the matches to Bangalore and Ahmedabad in the event of either venue withdrawing to host the matches. It's understood that 11 matches were awarded to Delhi, seven to Mumbai and the semifinals and final to Kolkata.
"We told the ICC that one centre cannot take the burden of seven to 11 matches, that the games had to be equally distributed to the three centres, and that each of the three venues would get an India match and either of the two semifinals or the final," said Shah.
