India has offered a few venues in the east of the country to the ICC for the 2014 T20 World Cup which is to be hosted in Bangladesh.
This is because the ICC is not sure whether Bangladesh will be able to complete the venues in Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar on time.
Bangladesh is to hold the T20 ICC World Cup in four venues from March 16 to April 6 next year.
The Indian cricket board, BCCI, offered venues like Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in case any of the Bangladesh venues are not ready by ICC’s stringent laws.
The offer was made by the BCCI delegation to ICC’s annual conclave in London last month.
“We dont want to take away anything from Bangladesh. We are confident they will host a great World Cup. But if any of their venues are not ready, we have alternatives on offer,” said Jagmohan Dalmiya, now temporarily in the charge of the BCCI after it suffered the hiccups of the match fixing scams in IPL.
Dalmiya has been bullish on Bangladesh since he was the ICC chief.
“I know they do a great job with their fixtures. But they are trying to prepare some new venues. We only want to say that they should hold the tournament but if the odd venue is not ready, we have some like Eden Gardens as an alternative to help them tide over,” Dalmiya told bdnews24.com.
Dalmiya said the ICC has shared its concerns over Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar and doubted whether they will be ready on time.
But he was keen to insist that BCCI will only like to help out the Bangladesh effort to host the T 20 World Cup with a venue or two if any of their venues are not ready.
“We see ourselves in a support role . All the big matches should be in Bangladesh. But if one or two venues are not ready, we want to offer alternatives, just that,” said Dalmiya.
Source: bdnews24
