England’s second warm-up game on their forthcoming tour to India has been shifted from the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) ground to the D. Y. Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Announcing this here at a media conference, MCA President Ravi Savant said, “We met BCCI President N. Srinivasan this morning and he has agreed to our request to shift the second warm-up game from BKC to the D. Y. Patil stadium.”
The shifting of the match scheduled from November 3-5 was necessitated as there were a lot of security issues relating to MCA’s BKC ground, said Savant.
“There were a lot of security issues raised by the Mumbai Police about holding the match at BKC. They highlighted these security concerns in a letter to us and we decided the best option was to shift the match to the D. Y. Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai, which also comes under our jurisdiction,” he said.
This is one area where a lot of people from the suburbs and from in and around Navi Mumbai can come and see the England team in action, which otherwise they won’t be able to do, he said.
He said once a match is allotted by the BCCI to an association, it is the association’s prerogative to hold it at a venue which is preferable.
“I don’t know why BKC was chosen earlier, but once representatives of the England and Wales Cricket Board arrived in Mumbai to inspect the venues of the matches, I wrote to the board that the match be shifted to D. Y. Patil stadium,” Savant said.
The BKC ground also lacks facilities for spectators coming to watch the match as there are no toilets and eateries to cater to their needs. Also, there are no proper media facilities, Savant said.