Chennai lose India-SL World Twenty20 matches
The historic MA Chidambaram Stadium, home
to scores of Twenty20 fans thanks to the following that Chennai Super
Kings have enjoyed the last eight years, may not host any of the India
matches when the ICC World Twenty20 is hosted in the country between
March 11 and April 3 next year. The famed Eden Gardens in Kolkata will
host the final match of the tournament.
There's no official reason been given yet over why Chennai could lose
out on an India match but it is very likely that Chidambaram may be
compensated with two World T20 matches not involving India. Apart from
India matches, Chennai will also not host any of the matches involving
Sri Lanka, given the political scenario in the state and the
Tamil-Sinhala conflict.
BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur admitted that there were problems with
the stadium in Chennai because of which the listing of World T20 venues
had to be kept pending.
"We have not ruled out Chennai (as a venue). The only issue is which
matches can be played in Chennai. There are certain limitations - can't
play Sri Lanka there, three stands are not complete and you can't keep
Indian fans away from those stands," said the BCCI secretary.
Thakur, however, did not go into the specifics of whether Chennai would get to host the Indian team. Delhi, a major venue that is currently in a messy state of affairs
over tax-related issues with the state government, could also miss out
on a World T20 game.
As of now, Mumbai, Kolkata, Nagpur, Chennai, Mohali, Bangalore,
Ahmedabad, Pune, Rajkot, Hyderabad and Dharamsala are the venues that
have been marked down as the potential venues.