Important games allotted to Haryana are normally staged at Faridabad's Nahar Singh stadium or at the Nehru stadium in Gurgaon. But the Faridabad venue, which has also hosted a number of one-day internationals, is under a cloud. This follows the shifting of the one-day international between India and Zimbabwe originally alloted to Faridabad in April this year as ``the ground was found not fit.''
The decision was taken by the BCCI after receiving a negative report from former captain Kapil Dev who headed the Grounds and Pitches Committee which rejected Faridabad as the venue for match which was part of the Pepsi triangular contest also involving Australia.
After the Nahar Singh stadium was constructed nearly a decade ago, the two venues at Rohtak (Vaish College and Vishwakarma School) stopped hosting Ranji Trophy fixtures. Now Haryana Cricket Association president Ranbir Singh Mahendra has said in a message to the executive secretary of the BCCI that ``all matches concerning Haryana and conducted by HCA under different trophies will be held at Rohtak.'' The ``different trophies'', apart from the Ranji Trophy, include the Cooch Behar, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare and Polly Umrigar Trophy age-group matches.
Kapil Dev had recently launched a crusade against the cricket administration in Haryana, alleging neglect of the players, among other shortcomings. One of Kapil's closest friends, Ajay Jadeja who is captain of the Haryana team, has also indicated he may quit the team and play for Delhi instead this season.
Kapil has since taken over as secretary of the Gurgaon unit. It is thought the decision not to give any matches to Gurgaon, which is on the outskirts of Delhi, is a bid by the HCA establishment to snub Kapil Dev.
From: CricInfo365 (www.cricinfo365.com)