Odisha-Jharkhand Ranji game in doubt after demise of Jayalalithaa

Jayalalithaa, the Tamil Nadu chief minister, passed away at the age of 68, on Monday evening, after failing to recover from a cardiac arrest she had suffered on Sunday. People in thousands came to the roads in utter disbelief, after hearing the news of the death. The Tamil Nadu government on Monday night also announced a seven-day state mourning from Tuesday.

This incident has not only affected the day-to-day life of the Tamils, but is also posing questions about the ninth-round Ranji match between Odisha and Jharkhand, which was scheduled to take place at the NPR College Ground in Dindigul on Wednesday. According to SportsCafe’s sources, all the players are still in their hotel rooms waiting for the verdict of the match-referee and the BCCI.

Former India pacer and current Odisha coach Debasish Mohanty said to SportsCafe, “We are hopeful of a game. But as the government declared three-day school off and seven-day mourning, we can’t tell anything right now. Hopefully, after the meeting with the match referee in the afternoon, we can get a clear-cut picture about the game.”

“As the government declared three-day off for every educational institution of the state, we couldn’t go to have pre-match practice today. The road is completely jam and it is next to impossible to travel by team bus too. Our match will happen in a college ground. So, we are totally unsure about the outcome. Hopefully, everything will turn out better and we will get a game,” said Odisha all-rounder Biplab Samantray, who is also the top-scorer of the season for his team so far.

This game is much more important for Odisha as they will get a direct qualification to the quarter-finals if they can secure an outright victory over the table-toppers, who have already qualified for the knock-outs.