New Delhi, January 08: The BCCI’s bid to save Feroz Shah Kotla from a possible ban received a major boost, with the ICC President David Morgan saying that he is not in favour of keeping the national capital out of the 2011 World Cup.
Although, Morgan did say that an appropriate decision on the Kotla issue will be taken by the assigned experts, he added that the 2011 World Cup will be a ”poorer” event if the Indian Capital is kept out of it.
”I’m not at all sure if such a ban would be appropriate in this case,” Morgan told NDTV. ”It’s not our desire that a pitch in an important city from a cricketing point of view, a place like Delhi, should face a lengthy ban. ”The ICC has written to the BCCI. The World Cup would be the poorer without matches being hosted in New Delhi. But you can be sure that an appropriate decision would be made by two expert people on the subject,” he added.
The fifth One-dayer between India and Sri Lanka had to be abandoned after the Kotla pitch was declared unfit by match referee Alan Hurst.
The abandonment has thrown Kotla’s chances of hosting the World Cup matches in serious doubts but BCCI has been making its effort to avoid a lengthy ban on the venue.
BCCI has already received the report from ICC and was given two weeks to respond. ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle and Dave Richardson will then decide the sanction to be imposed on Kotla.
——–Agencies