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Cuttack: Dashing all the hopes of Odia cricket lovers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today excluded Barabati stadium here from the list of newly declared Test venues.
The list was declared at the Board's 86th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai in which former India team captain Sourav Ganguly was appointed Chairman of the Technical Committee, replacing Anil Kumble.
Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, Indore, Pune, Dharamsala and Rajkot were accorded the status of Test venues.
Aspirations of cricket fans in the State had multiplied after a four-member team expressed satisfaction in February last year over the existing infrastructure at Barabati stadium for holding Test matches.
The team had inspected the pitch, outfield, galleries, dressing room and other infrastructure facilities at the stadium.
The team, led by Aniruddh Choudhury, had stated that they were personally satisfied with the existing set-up at the 45,000 seater stadium which has already staged more than 15 ODIs.
However, critics have a different opinion in the recent declaration of the BCCI. They attributed it to the recent bottle hurling incident in the stadium y the spectators during India-South Africa T20 tie last month.
Upset with India's dismal batting display in the 2nd T20 International against South Africa, fans had hurled plastic bottles onto the ground forcing the match referees to stop the match for some time. The visitors had won the match.
