Goa wants to host India-NZ ODI

Panaji:

With BCCI confirming that the state was not being considered for the upcoming three-match One-Day International series against South Africa, the Goa Cricket Association (GCA) on Monday said it was now looking forward to host a match against New Zealand later this year.

"After the Kotla pitch fiasco, the BCCI does not want to leave anything to chance. The BCCI has now made it mandatory for all centres to prepare the pitch at least three months before the contest," GCA president Dayanand Narvekar said.

"The BCCI has allotted the Test and ODI's to permanent centres. After the Delhi ODI fiasco, it is understood why Goa has been left out," he said.

"The news relayed to me by BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was a minor setback for us. We are now hoping to host another ODI - possibly against New Zealand in December this year," he added.

Initially, Goa was among the shortlisted venues for the ODI series against South Africa in February, but the Goa Football Association's threat to drag the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG), who had given permission to GCA to prepare the pitch at the Nehru stadium, to court over the stadium's availability and, most importantly, the Ferozahah Kotla pitch controversy, is understood to have upset calculations.

Meanwhile, questions are now being raised how the SAG allowed the GCA to start work on the pitch at the Nehru Stadium, even though there was no confirmation from the BCCI's Tours and Fixtures Committee.

With the pitch already dug, there has been considerable damage to the turf, there are fears that it will take some time before football can resume at Fatorda.

Goa Football Association secretary, Savio Messais said it is the SAG Director Prabhudesai to be blamed for having granted permission to carry out the digging work on the turf which has caused colossal damage to the sport and drained the SAG's finances.

"SAG spent lakhs of rupees on laying a new turf at the start of the season, but now with the pitch being dug for nothing, it is been such a financial disaster," Messais said adding that Prabhudesai should either resign on moral grounds or be sacked by the Chief Minister.