IND v NZ 1st T20I: Players' kitchen was locked at Kotla, Bishen Singh Bedi made to wait

Organising the game at the Kotla didn’t turn out to be a smooth ride as the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) faced quite a few obstacles.

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Bishan Singh Bedi
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.Former Indian cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi. (Photo by Prabhas Roy/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The opening T20 International between India and New Zealand was Ashish Nehra’s final international game. Quite naturally, the crowd swarmed in at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi. The audience was enthralled by some marvellous display of cricket by Virat Kohli & Co. From the cricketing point of view, the match had everything. From Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s wonderful knocks, Kohli’s cameo to the Indian bowlers’ dominance over the Kiwis batsmen, the crowd was kept on the edge of their seats throughout.

However, on the other hand, organising the game didn’t turn out to be a smooth ride as the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) faced quite a few obstacles. Justice Vikramajit Sen, a DDCA administrator, lashed out at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for forcing them into issuing extra passes.

“(Government departments) must realise that they have a job to do and don’t have greater rights than other citizens and if citizens of Delhi are not allowed passes why they should take it and in enormous numbers. The tactics they employ are most unfortunate and somebody has to wake up and say this is not permissible,” Sen told The Indian Express in an exclusive interview

He also revealed how the doors of the kitchen were locked by the SDMC for not allowing the extra passes. “The players’ kitchen was closed for two hours because they didn’t get enough passes… only after the extra passes were issued (at around 3.25 pm), were the players’ kitchen doors opened,” he added.

Even guest-invitees weren’t spared

The DDCA administrator also remarked how Bishen Singh Bedi was made to wait outside the ground while allowing commoners to enter the stadium.

“Even Bedi was not allowed through the gate, but these fellows (police) just opened the gate for unauthorised people. Bedi, who was to felicitate Nehra, was not allowed in by the police. He is such an aged person and if he was standing there, what do you do? We got to know when somebody told us… when we went rushing there, we saw this poor gentleman standing outside,” he quoted.

Rules and regulations are important facets of hosting a game and shouldn’t be breached at any cost. There’s a decorum to hosting a match which should always be taken care of to ensure smooth conduct of the event.

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