Fans in Bengaluru will not get a glimpse to watch Virat Kohli featuring in the Vijay Hazare Trophy after the local authorities failed to give permission for crowd presence. It is understood that talks between the Karnataka State Cricket Association and the state government authorities is underway and there will be a clear picture as to whether Delhi’s first round match against Andhra takes place at M Chinnaswamy Stadium or not on Wednesday. If not, there is a strong likelihood that the fixture will be played in BCCI’s Centre of Excellence behind closed doors.
Virat Kohli, alongside Rishabh Pant, who is captaining Delhi in the tournament, arrived in Bengaluru on late Monday evening. The Delhi team are scheduled to have their training session at the CoE on Tuesday as a decision on the match-day venue set to be taken by the afternoon.
It is understood that KSCA which is headed by former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad, approached the state government seeking permission to host the match in front of 3,000 fans. However, with concerns still remaining about the crowd management and this being a festive season, and the presence of Kohli and Pant would attract huge number of fans. As it could again lead to chaotic scenes, the authorities are understood to have informed the KSCA to play behind closed doors.
As far as the venue goes, a committee formed by the state government inspected the Chinnaswamy Stadium to inspect the ground and take a call. It is understood that the KSCA will be informed of the report later in the day.
Since the stampede incident which led to 11 people losing their lives outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium premises in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory celebrations on June 4, the stadium hasn’t been allotted any matches. It was scheduled to host the ICC Women’s World Cup opener and final, but those matches were moved out.
And ever since Bengaluru was allotted the Elite D fixtures of the Vijay Hazare and it was confirmed that Kohli would turn up for Delhi, fans remained hopeful that they could watch him play Chinnaswamy. Earlier last week, the first two rounds of Delhi, which was scheduled to be played in Alur, was moved to Chinnaswamy.
