The Cricket Association of Bengal requested the ICC team to reschedule the World Cup match between Pakistan and England on November 12 which coincides with Kali Puja, citing security concerns raised by the local police.
If BCCI and ICC have to accommodate another date change, then Pakistan will have a third change in schedule. This is after rescheduling of India v/s Pakistan game (October 14 instead of 15 in Ahmedabad) and Sri Lanka v/s Pakistan game (now on October 10 in Hyderabad instead of October 12). The Ahmedabad Police had told the BCCI that it would be difficult for it to take care of security on October 15 which happens to be the first day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri. The ICC and BCCI had released the schedule at a grand ceremony on June 27 but now the revised schedule is yet to be published as it has completely gone haywire. Kali Puja is the second biggest festival in West Bengal, and thousands of local clubs organise festivities with a large police deployment required to maintain law and order situation across the length and breadth of the city. While CAB president Snehasish Ganguly denied of any “official request” for a change in schedule, senior office-bearers in CAB are well aware that Kolkata Police has already raised this issue.
In such a scenario, it remains to be seen whether ICC agrees for another schedule change. The CAB chief gave a guarded response, while talking to reporters after the ICC’s inspection and meeting that lasted for more than three hours. “We have not yet got anything officially from the Kolkata Police,” Snehasish, elder brother of former BCCI president and India captain Sourav Ganguly, said. However with multiple changes in schedule, the question that has cropped up is that whether the local security agencies were taken into confidence while setting the dates for the World Cup.
