Hyderabad Cricket Association reiterated its preparedness to host the India-Bangladesh Test match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here from February 9 to Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI General Manager (Game Development), who inspected the venue on Wednesday.
“Mr. Shetty expressed happiness today at the way things are on for hosting the Test match now. Though there were no specific suggestions from his side, he assured that the BCCI would respect the elected body which is in place and extend full cooperation in conducting the Test successfully,” John Manoj, HCA Secretary, informed Sportstar .
There was no official briefing from the BCCI official after his visit that included an inspection of the facilities and a detailed discussion with the HCA curator Y. L. Chandrasekhar about pitch preparations.
John also revealed that the one area of concern expressed by Shetty is the approach road to the Stadium which is completely dug up on either side of the venue to facilitate huge pipeline works.
“The BCCI official was apparently worried whether they would be completed before February 3. We promised to take care of the subject and ensure that everything will be in place,” the HCA Secretary said.
Sginificantly, John said the issue of release of funds from the BCCI was not discussed on Wednesday.
“I repeat that it is no more an issue since we have already signed an agreement for instadia rights which should take care of the expenditure for the Test,” he explained.
The HCA Secretary said Shetty did remind them about the BCCI efforts to encourage school students to watch the Test matches in a big way and suggested the HCA to take appropriate measures to see that there is good attendance of students for the Test on all five days.
“We also informed that Gymkhana Ground and the facilities there would match the expectations of the visiting Bangladesh team if it were willing to have a three-day practice game against Hyderabad XI before the Test,” John pointed out.
“We explained to him that we are ready to host the game. The venue, which has good practice wickets and hosted lot of first-class matches successfully, should be good for the three-day game too,” the HCA Secretary said. “A final call on whether the three-day practice game will be on or not will be known by tomorrow,” he added.
For his part, HCA in-charge president Narender Goud assured Shetty that since the Telangana Government is very keen to extend all possible help to conduct the Test match successfully with the IT and the Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao taking special interest, the pipeline works will not be a hurdle.
“We are already working in close coordination with the concerned Department top brass in this regard,” he told the BCCI official.
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