ICC will not like Delhi to face a ban

New Delhi:

In a big development on the Kotla pitch fiasco, the ICC has said they would not like to see Delhi being banned from the list of World Cup venues.

In an exclusive interview to NDTV, ICC president David Morgan said he would like to see the Kotla back in action as soon as possible.

He, however, assured that an appropriate decision would be taken in this regard by the expert panel of ICC which is looking into the matter.

"I'm not at all sure that such a ban would be appropriate in this case, ICC has written to the BCCI and the BCCI has two weeks in receipt of our letter to respond, when that response comes in then Ranjan, the chief match referee and David Richardson, our general manager in cricket will sit down and consider the position very carefully and decide what sort of sanction is appropriate they will also be recommending remedial action," he said.

"It's not our desire that a pitch in an important city from a cricketing point of view that there should be a lengthy ban instead a pitch be made fit for purpose as soon as possible," he added.

The capital is in danger of losing its hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup following a scathing report on the Kotla pitch fiasco by ICC match referee Alan Hurst, who had classified the wicket "unfit".

But the ICC President said:" The World Cup would be poorer without matches being hosted in New Delhi".

The Kotla came in news for wrong reasons after the fifth and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka here on December 27 last year was called off after 23.3 overs due to a dangerous pitch.