BCCI may say no to matches in UP over Ranji controversy, claims UPCA

Lucknow. Mar 21 (UNI) The controversy over not allotting K D Singh Babu Stadium for holding Ranji trophy one-dayer finals here might result in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) not giving any more national or international matches to Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA), the organisers of the match, claimed here that following the controversy over non-payment of dues resulting in cancellation of the match, the cricket body has now stepped up its effort for construction of its own stadium.

A senior official of the UPCA said here that BCCI has taken strong exception to the sudden cancellation of the K D Singh Babu Stadium as venue for holding the Ranji finals slated today.

''It was a bad day for the game of cricket and BCCI has strongly condemned the incident,'' the official maintained.

The big ticket clash between UP and Railways, will now be played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 2.

This, was the second time when UP government refused to allot the stadium to UPCA. Earlier, last year, a Test match between India and Sri Lanka was shifted to Ahmedabad, after the state government refused to hand over the Green Park stadium to UPCA.

The BCCI officials have reportedly conveyed to UPCA that no future national or international matches would be given to the state till an alternative arrangement was made or a clear cut direction was obtained from the state government.

UPCA secretary and Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Shukla clarified that all efforts would be made to ensure that the cricket lovers of the state were not deprived of watching national and international matches.

Meanwhile, UPCA had initiated the process for early construction of an international standard stadium in the state probably near Kanpur.

''UPCA has enough funds and can construct the stadium on a war footing, which is the only solution to end the political interference in any sports in the state,'' the official claimed.

On the other hand, however, sources claimed that had the UPCA not waited for the state government's financial assistance for constructing the stadium, the project would have started long back.

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