Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today assured the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) of foolproof security arrangements for the March 19 India- Pakistan T20 match in Kolkata.
In a letter to CAB President Sourav Ganguly, the chief minister said they would make all security-related arrangements for hosting the match and asked Ganguly to communicate the same to ICC and BCCI, state officials said.
The chief minister has also given necessary instructions to the law enforcement authorities for smooth conduct of the match at Eden Gardens, the officials said.
“After the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh against hosting the match in Dharamsala, two venues were being actively looked at as alternatives – Cuttack and Kolkata.
“A senior minister closely associated with cricket passed on this message to the state government and Bengal CM was the quickest to respond,” the officials said.
The marquee World Twenty20 clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan was yesterday shifted to Kolkata from Dharamsala in view of security concerns.
“We are very very happy to host India-Pakistan match in Kolkata. All are always welcome to our beautiful city,” Banerjee had tweeted yesterday.