Bhubaneswar new base for Railways

The Railways Ranji team, whose home ground in Delhi was banned from hosting matches by the BCCI for the next season, will move to Bhubaneswar for the 2012-13 season, according to a report in the Indian Express. Railways will play a few of their home matches at the East Coast Railway Sports Association stadium in the city, the report said.

The BCCI had banned the Karnail Singh Stadium from hosting Railways' home games for the 2012-13 season following poor pitch conditions during an Elite group match against Saurashtra last season. Eighteen wickets fell on the opening day and the match had scores of 175, 81, 152 and 149. The decision to impose the one-year ban was taken in February this year by the BCCI Technical Committee based on the reports submitted by the match referees.

Railways' coach Abhay Sharma explained the decision to relocate. "We had shortlisted a few grounds and based on logistics and our team tactics, we would be primarily based out of Bhubaneswar for the season," he told the Indian Express. "The modalities are still being worked out, we are also looking out at a couple of other venues for a few other games," he said.

Railways, who are clubbed along with champions Rajasthan and Mumbai in Group A, are also said to be considering another venue in Patiala and are waiting for the curator's report before arriving at a final decision on distributing the four home matches for the season.