Lodha panel might enforce venue changes for Australia tour

The Lodha panel and the Supreme Court seem to be losing patience while asking the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and state associations to comply with the recommendations. Australia is scheduled to tour India in Feb­ruary-March next year and reports suggest the BCCI might be forced to change the venues for all matches.

Only three state associations Rajasthan, ­Vidarbha and Tripura have complied with the Lodha committee’s recommendations and it is believed that they might well be the only associations who are allowed to host matches. “Henceforth, starting with the series against Australia, matches will be played only in those stadiums whose associations have complied with the panel’s recommendations,” a Lodha panel spokesman was quoted by the media.

The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur and the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur are international venues and might get a chance to host matches for the upcoming series. “If need be, Jaipur and Nagpur will host all the matches of the ­series. The other state associations have been given enough time to comply but not anymore.”

BCCI’s moves haven’t gone down well with the panel who understand their strategy to gain strategy from the public against the panel. “Before every game, the BCCI has tried to earn the sympathy of the fans by claiming they don’t have the fund to host matches,” the panel’s spokesman was quoted saying.

“It seems like the Board is ­making it a habit to use public sympathy to get their funds cleared and then refuses to comply with the recommendations of the panel.”

None of the associations of the venues for the four Tests — Pune, Bangalore, Ranchi and Dharamsala have complied with the panel’s suggestions.

A Cricket Australia spokesman was quoted by The Australian saying that they were fine if there are any changes made for the tour.

“We’ll turn up and wherever we have to play, we’ll play,” the spokesman said.