TV
The Cuttack Barabati Stadium is a historic sports and cricket venue in India. It is lies in the hearts of millions of cricket fans in Odisha and interestingly the third-ever ODI in the country was played here as well.
The Barabati stadium was also one of the venues for the 1987 and 1996 ICC Cricket World Cups. However, a global spotlight over a floodlight malfunctioning here during the India-England ODI on February 9 has pushed its future into uncertainity.
Initially flickering during the sixth over of India’s batting in the second innings of the match, one of the stadium's floodlights completely went out during the seventh over. As one side of the field plunged into darkness, the umpires decided to halt play and players walked off the field and the match remained suspended for nearly 25 minutes.
Earlier in the day, the visuals of ground staff spraying water on the spectators to help them beat the 34 degrees Celsius heat also received sharp criticism as fans lashed out at the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the lack of shade in the venue.
As a result, this mismanagement and infrastructure woes led to online trolling and calls for the suspension of international matches in Cuttack.
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The truth, however, is that Barabati Stadium is old. Established in 1958, the stadium has not seen a complete redevelopment except for some renovations in the 2010s. A major reason for this could be the lack of international and high-profile matches, like the Indian Premier League (IPL), being allotted to the venue.
Once a regular cricket venue, the Barabati Stadium also hosted the Deccan Chargers and the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPLs until newly built and better-equipped stadiums came to take its place. With fading important matches, the emphasis on the upgradation of the stadium likely fell out of the BCCI’s priority.
Another factor plaguing the stadium is the alleged handing out of a large number of VIP passes, possibly diminishing revenue. Furore over this very issue also erupted during the ticket-selling days of yesterday’s ODI.
Amid such a situation, the capability of the stadium and the BCCI's inclination to give further international matches to it is one major question mark.
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Fortunately, the Odisha government took serious note of the mismanagement and issued a show-cause notice to the OCA, asking it to explain the floodlight issue within ten days. Further, State Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj has assured that his government will seek the BCCI’s help in getting more matches to Cuttack.
“The matter (floodlight issue) hurt every sports fan and Odia. We have issued a show-cause notice to the OCA and will take steps to ensure that such a thing is never repeated. We will try to get at least one international match every year to Barabati Stadium” he added.
Meanwhile, the BCCI has not commented on the matter and the future of the Barabati Stadium is up for debate.
