England captain keeps selection doors open ahead of T20 World Cup
The English summer begins with the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on Saturday, giving domestic players the chance to play themselves into the plans for the T20 World Cup squad.
Chennai’s famous Chepauk Stadium, also known as the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, has been the subject of a legal battle for some time which has led to three gallery stands to be unused for the last eight years.
However, a meeting between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and the former International Cricket Council (ICC), Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) chief N. Srinivasan could solve the issue.
The three stands, I, J and K have not been in use since 2011 for the legal tussle, right after the stadium was renovated.
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In 2015, the Supreme Court of India ordered for the demolition of parts of the adjoining Madras Cricket Club (MCC) to create eight metres of setback space between it and the K-stand.
However, parts of MCC have been declared heritage structures by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) which made it hard to demolish any part of it.
There have also been issues of the land lease at Chepauk and all of them have resulted in the three stans being kept unused since their creation.
In a recent development, the TNCA did not receive the government order to renew their lease. But after the meeting between Srinivasan and Palaniswamy, the cricket governing body will receive the order on November 22.
Following it, the TNCA will knock the High Court’s door for the reopening of three empty stands which have a total capacity of 12000.
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