Chiranjibip

Cuttack: The cricket lovers of the Millennium City are eagerly waiting for the T20 International Cricket game between India and Sri Lanka to be played at Barabati Stadium on December 20. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has declared the 15-member Indian squad without regular skipper Virat Kohli for the three match T20I series starting from the Barabati game. Rohit Sharma will be leading the side in the absence of Virat.

The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) is well prepared for the second ever T20 international to be played here. Barabati had hosted its only T20 international between India and South Africa in 2015. The online ticket sale has already started while the tickets for the general public will be sold at the counters on December 16 and 17 and for the affiliated units on December 14 and 15.

Like all previous international cricket matches in Cuttack, OCA expects this one to be another houseful affair despite the absence of few of the crucial players in the Indian team.

OCA Working Committee Chairman Dhiren Palei said, "We all in OCA as well as the police authorities are trying our best to make it a successful event. We want this game to be a high-scoring one. Absence of Virat will not have an impact on the ticket sale as there are others like Dhoni, Pandya and Rohit who are always crowd pullers."

The pitch is being prepared for the game and according to the curator it is going to be a pitch full of runs.

"We are preparing the pitch as per the guidelines of the BCCI for a T20 game," said curator Sutu Ghosh.

The Commissionerate Police is also leaving no stone unturned regarding the security of the players and spectators during the T20 game. The city DCP took a look at the venue to review the security and traffic arrangements made for the game earlier this week and expressed his satisfaction.

"The various arrangements starting from sanitation, drinking water etc have been made. We have already deployed security personnel at the venue," said Cuttack DCP Akhileshvar Singh.

This is a rare opportunity for the state association to host two international games in the same year. Earlier this year, OCA hosted an ODI between India and England which turned out to be a high scoring thriller with India winning the game.

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