BCCI seeks report from state unit on crowd trouble

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sought a report from its state unit on the crowd trouble during Monday’s Twenty20 match against South Africa which has prompted calls for a ban on the venue.

Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar led calls for a ban on Cuttack after supporters at the sold-out Barabati Stadium in Orissa threw bottles during the change of innings and again when South Africa were batting.

The match suffered a delay of close to an hour and resumed only after police cleared an upper stand of the stadium as South Africa went on to record their second successive victory to seal the three-match series with a game to spare.

“BCCI President Shashank Manohar has asked the Secretary of Orissa Cricket Association Ashirwad Behera to submit a report on the incident within two days,” the board said in a statement on its website (www.bcci.tv).

“Mr. Manohar has asked the state association to explain why the spectators were allowed to carry the bottles inside the stadium, which is against the ICC Guidelines.”

In India most stadiums do not allow bottles, and other objects that can be used as projectiles, but Behera has been quoted in the local media as saying that fans were allowed to carry water bottles to cope with the heat.

The teams play the third and final match at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Thursday.

The two sides will also play five one-day internationals and four test matches in what is South Africa’s longest tour of India.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)