BCCI fixes LoC for
Motera: fans will have to keep their distance
Call
it the cricket board’s paranoia or an earnest effort to clean up the
game after the recent match-fixing scandal but whatever the reason,
India’s One-Day International game against Zimbabwe at the Sardar Patel
Gujarat Stadium at Motera on December 5 will see unprecedented security
in an effort to quarantine the players from any sort of outside influence.
Gujarat Cricket Association
(GCA) president and vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) Narhari Amin on Monday said that except for the officials,
no one will be allowed in the vicinity of dressing room. "Not just
the fans and media, even relatives and friends of players won’t be allowed
near the dressing room," stated Amin.
The new diktat means fans
will have to keep their autograph books at home and even if the third
cousin of your neighbour last time obliged you with a photo opportunity
alongside Sachin Tendulkar, this time around he just won’t stand a chance.
This stringent enforcement
of the BCCI code of conduct is after Ahmedabad starred prominently in
the match-fixing drama. The Tehelka tapes and the confessions to CBI
about that "fuzzy follow on" decision during the Test
against New Zealand here have made the organisers edgy.
Referring to the controversy,
Amin pointed out that it was difficult to differentiate a bookie from
a fan and thus the curfew outside the dressing room.
The media, which too is
not above suspicion in the fixing controversy, has to change its ways.
This time there will be
separate entry for press and photographers and interaction with players
will only be after official consent.
Information about pitch
and playing conditions are also being as strictly as a state secret.
Not surprising since the players were paid thousands of dollars for
this bit of information.
Ask ground in-charge Bhagirath
Thakore a question and he sends you to the secretary of GCA Vikram Patel
who says the pitch will be full of runs but adds that it is the BCCI’s
pitch committee’s chairman Kasturirangan who will have the final say.
Whether the secrecy is
justified or not, for Ahmedabad cricket fans it will definitely be a
new experience.
For a populace that is
very emotional about its cricket and a history of hysteria, a distant
darshan of their gods in white will be difficult to swallow.
