Pakistan will play two of their nine matches in the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup at Eden Gardens and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Snehasish Ganguly told India Today that special security arrangements will be made for the Pakistan team when they travel to Kolkata for their matches.
The Men in Green play Bangladesh and England on October 31 and November 12 respectively. CAB president Snehasish, the elder brother of former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, shared his delight at the matches which were being hosted by Kolkata during the mega event.
"We have already hosted India vs Pakistan in T20Is. But we are having two Pak matches. These matches are tough. Organising a World Cup is challenging. We are prepared to take on any kind of challenge. In all the IPL matches we had a lovely crowd.
"I am very confident about hosting the matches. Special security arrangements will be there for Pakistan. I think Pakistan has played previously in Kolkata. I don't know the inside story. But their first preference is Kolkata, followed by Chennai and Bengaluru," he told India Today exclusively.
"I have faith in the Kolkata Police. The security system will be tighter than the normal matches. I have also faith in CM Mamata Banerjee and her administration," the CAB president added.
Eden will host India's match against South Africa match along with a couple of Bangladesh matches as well. The fixtures that they have been assigned by the BCCI and the ICC have left the CAB satisfied as he thanked secretary Jay Shah as well.
"We are satisfied. I really want to thank Jay Shah, BCCI and the ICC. I was working for the last 4 months. I have been working for the good matches. We show the designs and everything. We have got the best ground in the IPL. We never had a question mark about this. So a lot of plus-minus includes in these kinds of decisions. Jay Shah promised to give me good matches. I thanked Mr Jay Shah and BCCI that they have a good perspective about Eden Gardens."
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