Hyderabad: The Telangana versus united Andhra Pradesh stir has hit cricket, too, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shifting the second One-Day International match between India and Sri Lanka from Vishakapatanam to Nagpur.
"Vishakapatanam ODI has been shifted to Nagpur and it will be a day night game," BCCI Chief Secretary Ratnakar Shetty announced after a meeting of the cricket board's office bearers.
"It's a bit of logistics problem for us which will be resolved. Security and accomodation issue too will be resolved. Any visiting team would have concern on the security issue. Any board which is organising any match will have to provide security. We wanted state association to take stock of the situation. The police commissioner (Vishakapatanam Police Commissioner) and the state government expressed concerns on the ongoing situation,' said Reddy.
Vishakapatanam administration had expressed its inability to provide enough security for the India-Sri Lanka ODI to be played on December 18 with the Commissioner citing law and order as the main reason due to the ongoing agitation in coastal Andhra Pradesh for a united state.
"The prevailing situation is such that all city police have been deployed for maintenance of regular law & order. Almost 80 per cent of the regular force is required for the conduct of the ODI. We had conveyed to the local match organisers that it will not be possible for us to provide security," Vishakhapatanam Police Commissioner N Sambasiva Rao told CNN-IBN.
"We cannot predict the turn of event. If the scenario doesn't change we will not be able to commit security forces. The city is by and large peaceful, and student leaders are cooperative. The protest is visible but peaceful," said Rao.
The Commissioner also spoke to Vishakapatanam Cricket Association about the security aspect.
A few days earlier some Under-16 and Under-19 games scheduled to be held in the port city had been cancelled.
Andhra Pradesh has been on the boil ever since Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the process for the formation of a separate state of Telangana would be initiated and a resolution would be moved in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
Political parties on coastal Andhra and Rayalseema are against the division of the state and have been protesting violently for the past few days.
The Home Minister's announcement came after Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrasekhar Rao went on a fast unto death demanding the creation of Telangana.
Chidambaram's announcement stoked a political furore in the state with even the ruling Congress party divided over the issue.
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