Two days after Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association said no to hosting the second ODI between India and West Indies in Indore, Cricket Association of Bengal president Sourav Ganguly has also expressed his displeasure over Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) demand for complimentary passed for the first T20I between the two teams at the Eden Gardens on November 4.
“We will have to give the complimentary tickets which we have been giving. We cannot compromise on that. And I completely understand the problems faced by Indore/MPCA and I’m totally with them, because the practical problems are never understood. Their claim is completely legitimate,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“I don’t know what they (BCCI) will do. If they want (to take the game away), they can. But we are not going to compromise.”
As per new BCCI constitution, state associations only get 10 per cent of the stadium seats for complimentary passes and 90 per cent should be up for public sale. But Eden Gardens, which has a capacity of little over 66,000 distributes 30,000 as complimentary passes.
Ganguly explained that the board has to give complimentary tickets to sports departments, government agencies – Kolkata Police, Kolkata Corporation, Fire Brigade etc. The CAB also has 121 affiliated units which also “expect respective quota of complimentary tickets.
“Not only the affiliated units, the honorary and life members too are entitled to complimentary tickets. And we have to give about 2,000 tickets to the NCC. So it’s not possible. They (BCCI/CoA) don’t understand the practicality (of the matter),” the former India captain said.
