New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India has shifted the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy knockout matches from Indore to Pune citing logistical issues.
The knockout matches, which is scheduled from December 12 to 18, will now take place at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Gahunje and the Dr DY Patil Academy ground in Ambi.
“We informed BCCI about a fortnight ago that we will not be able to stage the SMAT knockouts as there is a lack of hotel room availability here due to some global conference (of doctors) in Indore from Dec 9-12,” Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association CEO Rohit Pandit told TOI from Indore on Friday.
BCCI has shifted SMAT’s knockout matches to Pune
A BCCI official said that the T20 tournament’s knockout stage was shifted to Pune after a request from the MPCA. Several of the country’s leading players are likely to take part in the tournament.
Meanwhile, the IndiGo flight crisis, with about 1,000 cancellations and disruptions to many other domestic flights, could also impact the scheduling of BCCI’s domestic tournaments.
BCCI conducts SMAT league stage across four cities
At present, the BCCI is running the league stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy across four venues: Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Hyderabad.
“If the crisis continues, it could be a challenge to fly the eight participating teams, as well as the umpires and other officials to Pune for the SMAT knockouts. Also, the Women’s Under-23 T20 Trophy in Ahmedabad and the Men’s Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy are going on at the moment, for which the teams and officials (umpires and officials) need to travel constantly,” said a source tracking developments.