BREAKING: Eden Gardens will host India-Pak T20, announces ICC

Eden Gardens will be the hosts to the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup game after clouds of uncertainty continued to grow darker over the initially designated venue, Dharamsala. India and Pakistan will now lock horns at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata after the ICC called an emergency press conference at 1700 hours IST today to confirm the venue change.

The decision to choose Kolkata as the ideal venue appears to have been both on logistical and broadcasting considerations. Pakistan are already playing two warm-up games at Kolkata (against Bengal on March 12 and Sri Lanka on March 14) and are satisfied with the security arrangements at the Edens. West Bengal CM Mamata Bannerjee has also shown a keen interest in hosting the grand event, BCCI officials have said.

Previously the original venue, Dharamsala became a ground for hot debate after Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said his state would not be providing security for the Pakistan cricket team playing in the state. The Chief minister was criticized from different corners for politicizing a sporting event of such enormous magnitude.

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The Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shahryar Khan had mailed the cricket’s top body earlier in the day requesting a change of venue to either Kolkata or Mohali, and the ICC seem to have duly obliged. This intimation came after PCB’s three-man delegation did not find security arrangements up to the mark, thus holding back the departure of both the men’s and women’s teams who were earlier supposed to reach India on Wednesday evening.

The last time India played Pakistan at the Eden Gardens was in 2013 in an ODI where the visitors won by 85 runs thanks to a Nasir Jamshed ton and some excellent bowling led by Junaid Khan.

Pakistan play the rest of their group games in Mohali (Australia and New Zealand), with another game scheduled in Kolkata itself (vs qualifier). The women’s team will be playing their matches in the cities of Delhi and Chennai.  

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