It's official. Pune will not host the opening match of the India-Sri Lanka ODI series on February 8. The match will now be held at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. The other matches will be held at Rajkot (February 11), Goa (February 14) and Vizag (February 17). BCCI vice-president Shashank Manohar, confirming the venue shift told The Indian Express from Nagpur that the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) has sent the board a letter expressing its inability to host the match as scheduled. “We’ve received a letter from MCA president Ajay Shirke today, which categorically stated that owing to unreasonable demands of complementary passes from Pune Municipal Corporation, owners of Nehru Stadium and the Club of Maharshtra (CoM), they will not be able to host the tie,” said Manohar. When Pune hosted the last ODI in 2005, there was massive clamour for passes and it meant only limited seats for the fans. “After deliberations we decided that there was no way we could organise the match at Pune. It had to be shifted,” Manohar added.Incidentally, there was also some problem about Nimbus positioning the cameras at the north end. Whatever the reasons, Pune fans will miss out on the opportunity of watchingTeam India in action. Nevertheless, Pune’s loss is Kolkata’s gain.
