The 3rd ODI between India vs South Africa 2015 series of the 5 match series is scheduled to take place at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Rajkot. And a political issued has caused headaches for the Saurashtra Cricket Association officials.
Hardik Patel, who is the face and convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), has said that 10000 members of the Patel community will be demonstrating outside the stadiums “peacefully” about their demands for getting reservation for the Patel community during the third ODI between India and South Africa in Rajkot on October 18.
Patel who is a former junior cricketer has seen a perfect opportunity to encash on the popularity of the game in Gujarat and has chosen the India vs South Africa ODI to propagate his political agenda. “It is a very serious matter. If something happens, it will spoil the image of Rajkot and we will not get international matches in future,” Niranjan Shah, president of Saurashtra Cricket Association, told the local media in Rajkot on Wednesday.
Hardik Patel told a news channel that the members of the agitation had bought more than 1,000 tickets so far and will be buying more in order to attend the match in unison wearing T-Shirts with Jay Sardar written on it. “We will showcase our demands sitting in the gallery during the match without causing any disruption,” said Patel, who has been disturbing the peace all over the Gujarat state for the past three months demanding special status for the Patidar community.
The officials of Saurashtra Cricket association have upped the security in view of the threat of agitation. The security has been tripled with more and more police being deployed for the sole purpose of tackling with any unwanted situation. The tickets sold for the match are non-transferable and are sold only on producing original and official ID cards at the ticket counter and on the online portals.
Also, the officials have banned any and all sorts of placards inside the stadium. Entry to the stadium will only be permitted on showing the same ID card that was used for buying the tickets. “If there are any attempts to spark trouble, we will initiate stringent police action. If anyone tries to carry out protests inside the stadium, they will be forcibly evacuated,” said Shah.
In view of crowd trouble at the just concluded 2nd T20 match at Cuttack, India has been under the microscope with respect to the crowd instigated interruptions in matches. In 2002-03 West Indies tour, Rajkot Stadium saw crowd trouble and it also seen bottles being thrown in the playing field. West Indies players Vasbert Drakes and Ryan Hinds were hit by some projectiles in the whole affair.
