The fourth match of the five-match T20I series between India and Australia is scheduled to be played at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur. The stadium has an outstanding bill of ₹ 3.16 crore due to which, there is no electricity in some parts of the stadium. This happened five years ago and still, there is no update on that. India vs Australia, 4th T20I 2023 Free Live Streaming Online: How To Watch IND vs AUS Cricket Match Live Telecast on TV?
With very little time left before the match, a temporary connection has been installed at the request of the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association. This connection will only power the spectator's gallery and boxes. For the floodlights, a generator is required so that they can be switched on during the match between India and Australia which will begin at 7 PM IST (Indian Standard Time) on Friday, December 1.
Ashok Khandelwal who is Raipur's Rural Circle in-charge said that there has been a request made by the Secretary Cricket Association to increase the capacity of the temporary connection of the stadium.
Currently, the temporary connection's capacity is just 200 KV. But an application to upgrade it to one thousand KV has been approved. The work on it hasn't started yet.
This situation came to light back in 2018 when there was an uproar among athletes participating in a half-marathon, that there was no electric supply present at the stadium. It was then known that the electricity bill for the stadium hadn't been paid since 2009 which has now piled up to become ₹ 3.16 crore.
The maintenance of the stadium was handed over to the Public Works Department (PWD) after the construction of the stadium, while the remaining expenses were to be fulfilled by the Sports Department. Since then both departments have been blaming each other for the unpaid power bill. The electricity company has already sent several notices to both Sports Department and PWD but there hasn't been any output from both of the departments.
Three international cricket matches have been organized in the stadium since 2018. India vs Australia's fourth match of the five-match T20I series 2023 is an important game as India is leading the series by 2-1 and it will interesting to see Australia's chances to keep this series alive. Australia won the third match of the five-match T20I series and kept the series alive. India vs Australia, 4th T20I 2023, Raipur Weather Report: Check Out the Rain Forecast and Pitch Report at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium
Tarunesh Singh Parihar the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh media coordinator said that they are not much convinced to host international matches in the near future as it can become a big problem.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 01, 2023 03:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).