The second one-day international cricket match between India and Sri Lanka, scheduled to be held at the ACA-VDCA stadium here on December 18 has been shifted to Nagpur due to the prevailing tense situation in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to shift the match to Nagpur as there was no other option, said Chairman of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust and organising committee chairman Ajeya Kallam at a press conference he addressed along with the president G. Gangaraju and other office-bearers of ACA here on Monday.
Both expressed regret that the people of Vizag and surrounding areas could not witness the match but a silver lining in the dark cloud was the assurance of the BCCI to the ACA that it would allot one of the ODIs during South Africa’s tour in February 2010 to Visakhapatnam.
Mr. Rangaraju said he had discussed the situation on Monday morning with the BCCI president and secretary who wanted an immediate decision in order for preparations to get underway to host the match at a different venue. Nagpur, which hosted one of the two T20 matches a few days ago, was chosen as the venue for the second ODI.
“Every thing is almost in place for the match, the political parties are also for holding the match but we did not want to take a chance as we could not predict what would happen. Even a small and minor incident created by miscreants would have a major impact. There is no other option for us”, Mr. Gangaraju said.
