India-England ODI: Seating capacity to be reduced at Odisha’s Barabati

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Aug 12:

Much ahead of the India-England One Day International (ODI) at Barabati stadium here in January, the officials of England Cricket Board (ECB) today took stock of the security arrangements with the Commissionerate Police at its headquarters in Odisha capital.

The officials of the ECB along with members of Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) took up several concerns with the Twin City Commissioner YB Khurania for incident-free passage of the event.

“A preliminary discussion on security arrangements was held today where ECB and OCA officials were present. The ECB officials wanted to know about the security arrangements at airport, hotel and stadium. We have given them assurance that we will make foolproof security arrangement at all the places. We have requested them to let us know the itinerary plan well in advance and we will take care of all the security arrangements. We will put in out best efforts on the security front,” Twin City Commissioner YB Khurania said.

According to sources, the OCA authorities have decided to cut down on the seating capacity from 45,000 to 41,000 for the upcoming event.

England will play the second ODI match at Barabati on January 19.

With the embarrassing moments during the India-South Africa match arising due to bottle pelting in October last year playing in the minds of the cricket body, the authorities have decided to incorporate more areas under the CCTV camera surveillance during  the match.

In the backdrop of that incident, OCA had decided not to allow water bottles and water sachets into the galleries.

Apart from CCTV and bottle ban, the wire fencing between the gallery and field would be heightened to ensure that nothing gets into the playing area even if flung from the gallery. All the seats would also be numbered and the seat number would be marked on the ticket to keep a track on the movement of the spectators.