Visakhapatnam: Indian Premier League (IPL) action will return to Vizag once again this year. The Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy ACA-VDCA stadium in Vizag is likely to host three to four matches of Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants this season.
IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla announced that four options had been given to Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants among the new venues for IPL-2016. While Pune has already opted for Vizag, Mumbai Indian's coach Paras Mhambrey on Friday inspected the stadium and outfield.
Officials of the Andhra Cricket Association had evinced interest in hosting two IPL matches in Vizag and had written to the BCCI stating their readiness.
The ACA officials, however, will have to wait for a couple of days for official confirmation from the BCCI. Mr Shukla had given four (Vizag, Raipur, Jaipur and Kanpur) options to the Mumbai and Pune franchises following the Bombay High Court ordering the 13 IPL matches in Maharashtra, scheduled to be held after April 30, to be moved out of the state due to the severe drought conditions.
Vizag, a non-IPL franchisee city in AP, has hosted five IPL matches, including three matches of IPL-2015 after Sunrisers Hyderabad picked the stadium as their venue. This season, Sunrisers Hyderabad will be playing seven matches in Hyderabad and at other venues.
Water not a problem, says ACA organisers
Administrators of the ACA and Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association said that they could easily face the heat of peak summer and manage to conduct matches smoothly despite the city’s acute water crisis.
IPL-2016 is likely to get under way at Vizag stadium on May 13 and 15. ACA secretary Gokaraju Ganga Raju said they had ample water for the stadium from its own borewells and there was no need to depend on other sources.
