Lucknow: Speculations of IPL 2018 playoff to be shifted from Pune to Lucknow’s Ekana International stadium has brought a ray of happiness to the fans in the Nawabi capital of India. As per reports in Time of India, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official has informed that the playoffs might be organised in Lucknow instead of Pune but it has not been finalised yet.
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Kolkata and Rajkot are also in the top contention, however, Lucknow’s crowd capacity might be the x-factor which might go in favour of them, said the BCCI official.
TOI quoted a top BCCI official, “What works in Lucknow’s favour is the huge crowd capacity (around 50,000) of the stadium in that city. However, we haven’t finalised this yet. Rajkot and Kolkata are also in the running. We’ll send an (IMG) team to Lucknow on Tuesday, and should be able to take a call later that day.
Pune was slated to host the play-off matches but given than the city has now become the new home ground to the CSK, due to constant protest of Cauvery water crisis in Chennai, BCCI now wants to shift the matches out of Pune.
Lucknow was earlier in contention of hosting home matches of Delhi Daredevils or Kings XI Punjab, but none of the franchise showed interest in newly build stadium at Shaheed Path area in the city, which has hosted few of the domestic matches. You may like| Video : Get a sneak peak at Ekana International stadium, Lucknow
A team from BCCI will visit Lucknow on 24th and 25th April to check the facilities of the stadium, if everything lives upto their expectation then the beautifully constructed stadium will be set to host Eliminator match of 23rd May and Qualifier match of 25th May.
We are informed that a team from BCCI will arrive in Ekana Stadium, within 2-3 days, for inspection of the facilities. UPCA wants Lucknow to host the play-off matches, so that the stadium can get the opportunity of hosting an International match in the coming future,” said UPCA secretary Yudhveer Singh.
(We will keep you posted about any further announcement)
