Hyderabad dropped as CLT20 venue

Hyderabad will not host any matches in the upcoming Champions League T20, due to security reasons. The 12 qualifiers and group matches scheduled to be held in Hyderabad will be shared by Mohali, Ranchi and Ahmedabad.

The qualifying matches on September 17, 18, 20 and a Group B double-header on September 24 will now be played in Mohali. Ranchi will host a double-header on September 28 while Ahmedabad will host a double-header on September 30.

Last week, Andhra Pradesh state police said that they would not be able to provide adequate security for the matches as they clash with the Ganesh immersion festival. The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) had stated that the question mark over security was only restricted to the qualifiers and they were confident the police would provide adequate security for the group games.

However, the decision to shift all the games may have been taken due to the Hyderabad police being non-committal.

"Police had said that they will not be able to provide security for the qualifiers due to Ganapati immersions. And for the league games, they would take a call based on the prevalent situation," MV Sridhar, the HCA secretary, told ESPNcricinfo.

"So it was up to the CLT20 governing council to take a call."

This isn't the first time Hyderabad has been stripped of matches in recent years. In the 2010 IPL, all of Deccan Chargers' home games were played at Nagpur, Cuttack and Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium due to political agitations in the state.