IND vs SL | BCCI to “wait and watch” over situation ahead of Guwahati T20I

As the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by both the Houses of Parliament, widespread protests are being staged in Assam and as the situation worsens the future of the series opener on January 5 in Guwahati seems bleak. Sri Lanka will be touring India for a three match T20I series and the series opener was scheduled to be played at the venue.

Assam Cricket Association (ACA) vice president Parikshit Dutta hopes that the situation will be under control in the coming three weeks as he also informed that authorities will be monitoring the situation.

“Right now, we cannot comment on whether T20 International in Guwahati will happen or not. All the authorities (state Police, Home Ministry) will be monitoring the situation. We have to wait for some time. There are still three weeks to go so we have to be hopeful,” Dutta told Sportstar.

The protests have led to the fourth day’s play of Ranji Trophy encounter between Assam and Services being called off while an U-19 Cooch Behar Trophy encounter between Assam and Odisha was also cancelled. In the meantime, the Jharkhand team is waiting for BCCI approval before heading for their away encounter in Assam, starting from December 17.

According to a Sportstar report, a BCCI functionary informed that the board is hopeful that the situation would be under control before the encounter while he also shared that no backup location for the match has been identified yet.

“At this point, it will be premature to comment that India versus Sri Lanka game will be shifted. Yes, we are all monitoring the security situation and close to the date, we will take a call. For the time being, BCCI will ‘wait and watch’,” the BCCI source said.

“Right now, we haven’t zeroed in on any alternate venues but we always keep back-up options ready in case of unforeseen circumstances. For now, let’s hope that normalcy returns and we can have the match as per schedule.”