Virat Kohli’s return to the M. Chinnaswamy has been put on hold on Tuesday. Bengaluru police denied permission to stage the seven Group D Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at Chinnaswamy.
Now, all domestic matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy have been shifted from M Chinnaswamy Stadium to the BCCI Center of Excellence (CoE). This comes after a directive from the Karnataka government citing security concerns.
The venues were rejigged last week to move Delhi’s games from KSCA amid crowd management concerns. On Monday, the city police commissioner and officials from the public works department, fire and emergency services, and the health department inspected the stadium and submitted their report. Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) commissioner Maheshwar Rao heads the committee, and he later met with KSCA officials. KSCA is headed by former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad. They discussed the implementation of the Justice Michael Cunha commission report.
Justice John Michael D’Cunha’s report labeled the M Chinnaswamy Stadium highly unsafe for large public gatherings.
“KSCA values the Government’s constructive and consultative approach at this stage and greatly appreciates the ongoing cooperation of the Home Department, the Police authorities, and other statutory agencies throughout this process,” the body said in a statement release.
“The Association looks forward to receiving the detailed inputs, observations, and recommendations from the authorities forming part of the Review Committee and assures that all such recommendations will be implemented in a structured and time-bound manner KSCA remains fully committed to implementing all practicable safety, security, and infrastructure-related measures at the earliest. With this proactive approach and full compliance with the recommended measures, KSCA is confident that the necessary permissions for conducting Vijay Hazare Trophy matches at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium will be granted in the near future.”
It is also learnt that all Vijay Hazare matches in Bengaluru will be conducted without spectators. The State Government is careful because of any potential chaos during the matches. There is a heavy police presence around the Aerospace Park area for the upcoming matches at the CoE. Recently, CoE saw a similar setup during the Duleep Trophy as well.
