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TNCA confident of staging first Test without a hitch

Tamil Nadu Cricket Association secretary Ashok Kumbhat today said he is confident of successfully conducting the first Test between India and Pakistan from January 28 to February 1.

The Test was earlier scheduled to be staged in New Delhi while Madras was to stage the second Test, but the venues were swapped after Shiv Sena men dug up the pitch at the capital's Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.

Kumbhat said Jaywant Y Lele, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, confirmed on phone that the dates for the two matches had been swapped and the M A Chidambaram stadium would now host the first Test.

He said the state government has also promised the TNCA maximum security to prevent any disruption in the wake of theShiv Sena's threat to disrupt the match.

Asked if Pakistan Cricket Board official Brig Saeed Ahmed Rafi, who is in Delhi to oversee the arrangements for the tour, will be visiting Madras, Kumbhat said he had not received any intimation in this regard.

On the possibility of Shiv Sena goons entering the stadium by buying tickets, he said there would be tight security at the ticket counters and the TNCA will sell only two tickets per head. The sale will begin on January 24.

"We will provide full security for the safety of the players as well as the public," he promised.

Madras will be hosting an India-Pakistan Test match after a gap of 12 years. The last time the teams met here was during the Independence Cup in 1997, which Pakistan won, thanks to a record-breaking 194 by opener Saeed Anwar.

In New Delhi, Brig Rafi visited the Ferozeshah Kotla today and "expressed satisfaction" at the arrangements for the second Test, BCCI vice-president C K Khanna said.

Rafi was scheduled to meet Lele in Calcutta later in the evening.

UNI