IND vs WI | Mumbai Police expresses inability to provide security as first T20 comes under doubt

India are supposed to play the first T20 against West Indies on December 6 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai but that has come under scanner after Mumbai Police has failed to give clarity on the security arrangement. December 6 is celebrated as the first anniversary of Babri Masjid’s demolition after the Supreme Court’s historic Ayodhya verdict and also the death anniversary of Dr Babasahed Ambedkar for which thousands come together to celebrate ‘Mahaparinirvan Divas’.

“A Mumbai police representative had come to share the ground situation in our Apex Council meeting today. Senior MCA officials have sought time to meet the Commissioner of Police Sanjay Barve tomorrow where more clarity would be provided, if the match is possible on the scheduled date or not,” an MCA official told Indian Express.

“We have conveyed to the MCA that on December 6 we are quite pre-occupied as far as the deployment of security bandobast is concerned. No meeting of association officials with either CP or jt CP (law & order) has been held so far but will be held soon. The dialogue is on with them and after the meeting, a final decision would be taken,” a senior police officer said.

For a match in Mumbai, around 1200 police personnel and 300 traffic personnel are needed and to come up with a solution for the dilemma, MCA officials have suggested to the police that they are allowed to stage the match with around 25 per cent police force. The rest is to be made up of private security personnel.

“But any such move would need the go-ahead from Mumbai police and modalities can only be worked out after meeting with senior police officials,” added the MCA official.

Mumbai Cricket Association is currently mulling the possibility of swapping the third T20 with Hyderabad, which is scheduled to be on December 11. Before taking on Windies for an ODI series, India will play a three-match T20I series before embarking on a tough tour of New Zealand next year. The Indian team is scheduled to play the T20Is in Mumbai (December 6), Thiruvananthapuram (December 8), and Hyderabad (December 11). The three ODIs will be played in Chennai (December 15), Visakhapatnam (December 18) and Cuttack (December 22).