India: Haryana Venue Wars (26 September 1998)
The nondescript town of Rohtak in Haryana will be the unlikely venue for a record 18 matches in a span of just 71 days, including the key Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Haryana from October 22 to 25
26-Sep-1998
26 September 1998
Haryana Venue Wars
By Gulu Ezekiel
The nondescript town of Rohtak in Haryana will be the unlikely venue
for a record 18 matches in a span of just 71 days, including the key
Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Haryana from October 22 to 25.
Important games allotted to Haryana are normally staged at Faridabad's
Nahar Singh stadium or at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon. But the
Faridabad venue, which has also hosted a number of one-day
internationals, is under a cloud. This follows the shifting of the
one-day international between India and Zimbabwe originally alloted
to Faridabad in April this year as "the ground was found not fit."
The decision was taken by the BCCI after receiving a negative report
from former captain Kapil Dev who headed the Grounds and Pitches
Committee which rejected Faridabad as the venue for match which was
part of the Pepsi triangular contest also involving Australia.
After the Nahar Singh stadium was constructed nearly a decade ago,
the two venues at Rohtak (Vaish College and Vishwakarma School)
stopped hosting Ranji Trophy fixtures. Now Haryana Cricket
Association president Ranbir Singh Mahendra has said in a message to
the executive secretary of the BCCI that "all matches concerning
Haryana and conducted by HCA under different trophies will be held at
Rohtak." The "different trophies", apart from the Ranji Trophy,
include the Cooch Behar, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare and Polly
Umrigar Trophy age-group matches.
Kapil Dev had recently launched a crusade against the cricket
administration in Haryana, alleging neglect of the players, among
other shortcomings. One of Kapil's closest friends, Ajay Jadeja who
is captain of the Haryana team, has also indicated he may quit the
team and play for Delhi instead this season.
Kapil has since taken over as secretary of the Gurgaon unit. It is
thought the decision not to give any matches to Gurgaon, which is on
the outskirts of Delhi, is a bid by the HCA establishment to snub
Kapil Dev.
From: CricInfo365 (www.cricinfo365.com)
Source :: CricInfo