Visakhapatnam on the Standby for IPL

Visakhapatnam has been kept on standby for the ongoing IPL matches. The Indian Premier League’s Governing Council has kept the Dr YSR ACA-VDCA Cricket stadium in the city on standby just in case there arises a need to shift matches this season.

The Andhra Cricket Association Secretary Ch Arun Kumar said that the association is glad that the centre is one of the venues on standby to host IPL this season. The ACA officials, including Arun Kumar and President GVK Ranga Raju were invited to the inauguration of the Vivo IPL 10 where they had met BCCI and IPL officials.

During the course of discussions there, the ACA officials were told that the governing council has given Visakhapatnam top priority and chosen it as the venue to allocate any IPL match that may need shifting due to unforeseen reasons.

The Dr YSR ACA-VDCA stadium has facilities that match international standards. It has played host to its first Test last year and even IPL when the ACA had volunteered to hold fort in the time of crisis when matches had to be shifted from Mumbai and Pune due to the prevailing drought in Maharashtra.

The ACA had bailed out the BCCI and agreed to host the matches at a very short notice. They hosted six successful matches with only a week’s notice. The ACA is willing to host any number of matches this year too, should the need arise.