Virat Kohli’s Chinnaswamy comeback delayed as Vijay Hazare matches move to CoE

Virat Kohli’s much-anticipated return to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was put on hold on Tuesday after the Bengaluru city police refused permission to stage the Vijay Hazare Trophy match between Delhi and Andhra at the venue. Kohli, who arrived in the city on Monday night, is slated to feature in two matches, including one against Gujarat. Both fixtures had earlier been shifted from the KSCA Alur Stadium to the Chinnaswamy Stadium in anticipation of crowd-related issues at the Alur venue on the city’s outskirts.

It has been learned that the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) had sounded out the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) as a backup venue on Monday, and the two matches will now be held there.

The CoE premises house three grounds. On Monday, a committee comprising the Bengaluru city police commissioner and officials from the public works department, fire and emergency services, and the health department inspected the Chinnaswamy Stadium and submitted its report to Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) commissioner Maheshwar Rao, who heads the panel. Confirming the development, city police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said: “The committee inspected the stadium and concluded that there are no proper facilities to conduct matches.

A decision on allowing matches will be made only after the required work is completed. For now, KSCA’s request to conduct matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium has been rejected.” During the meeting, KSCA officials and the panel also discussed the implementation of the Justice John Michael Cunha Commission report, which outlined 17 recommendations. Security concerns ahead of the December 24 match further complicated matters, with the city police also tasked with managing Christmas festivities in the Central Business District. The matches will now be held on Grounds Two and One respectively at the Centre of Excellence, ending weeks of uncertainty over Kohli’s return to the Chinnaswamy Stadium for the first time since the June 4 stampede outside the venue during RCB’s IPL victory celebrations. Both matches will be played behind closed doors, as there is no provision for spectators at the CoE. Kohli hits the ground running Kohli and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant joined the Delhi squad for net practice on Tuesday. The duo trained for about an hour alongside teammates

Ishant Sharma

and Navdeep Saini.