Bhubaneswar, Oct. 7: The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) has assured the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that steps would be taken to prevent a repeat of what happened at Barabati Stadium on Monday.
The OCA made this promise in its reply to a show-cause served to it by the the country's top cricket administrative body.
OCA secretary Ashirbad Behera said: "The BCCI had asked us to submit a reply on why water bottles were allowed inside the stadium against norms International Cricket Council (ICC) norms. They had asked us to submit the reply within 48 hours. We sent it in just two hours."
In its reply, the OCA said that they had allowed the spectators to enter the stadium with plastic water bottles on humanitarian grounds. "We hope BCCI will be satisfied with our explanation," he said.
Behera said that henceforth spectators would be served water in paper glasses inside the stadium.
"Since we won't allow spectators to carry water bottles inside the stadium, we will also remove the protective nets in front of the galleries so that spectators have a better view of the proceedings on the field," he said.
The OCA also made it clear that it would not lodge any complaint with the police about the behaviour of the spectators during the India-South Africa match. "As we are not aware of the identity of the trouble makers, we will not lodge any complaint," said Behera.
Earlier, commissioner of police R.P. Sharma had said that police would initiate action if the state cricket association lodged a complaint.
A meeting on the issue called by director-general of police Sanjeev Marik today was cancelled.
Trouble had erupted at Barabati Stadium during the match on Monday when spectators, apparently frustrated with India's poor performance, began hurling plastic bottles from gallery Nos. 2 and 4 onto the field. The policemen present, instead of controlling the crowd, were found enjoying the match. Play was stopped more than once because of this.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has asked state home secretary Asit Tripathy to probe into the incident.
People from various walks of life, including cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, have expressed dismay over the incident with the former even suggesting that Barabati Stadium be banned for two years from hosting any international match.
Behera had reacted sharply to Gavaskar's suggestion. "Who is he? He is just a commentator. He has said this because of some selfish interest," he had said.
The former cricketer had also lambasted the spectators saying they have no right to disrupt play by throwing objects on the field irrespective of how the team performs.
