India and Australia will clash in the 4th T20I of the ongoing five-match series on December 1, 2023, at Raipur's Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh stadium. However, the match can have a few interruptions as it has come to knowledge that there is no electricity in the stadium.
The reason behind this is that there are unpaid bills in the amount of INR 3.16 crores dating back to 2009. This led to the electricity connection at the stadium getting cut 5 years ago. A temporary connection was installed at the request of the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association, but that only covers the spectators' gallery and boxes. The floodlights during the match today would need to be run using a generator.
Raipur Rural Circle in-charge Ashok Khandelwal said that the Secretary Cricket Association has applied to increase the capacity of the temporary connection of the stadium. At present, the capacity of the temporary connection is 200 KV. An application to upgrade it to 1 thousand KV has been approved, but work on it hasn't started yet.
IND v AUS 2023: "Shreyas Iyer will have big impact in our batting lineup"- Ravi Bishnoi
This first came to light in 2018, when there was an uproar when athletes participating in a half-marathon realized that there was no electricity supply at the stadium. Three international cricket matches have been organized in the stadium since the power connection was cut in 2018.
The maintenance of the stadium after construction was given to the Public Works Department (PWD), while the remaining expenses were to be borne by the Sports Department. The two departments have been blaming each other for the unpaid power bill.
The electricity company sent several notices to PWD and Sports Department for clearance of dues, but no payment has been made yet.
Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh media coordinator Tarunesh Singh Parihar said they are skeptical about hosting international matches as there will be a problem. Generators are being used as alternative arrangements in big matches.
"As far as the stadium lights are concerned, I don't know how much bill is outstanding but a temporary connection has been taken in the name of CSCS," Mr Parihar said.
India won the first two T20Is, but Australia made a grand comeback by chasing down 222 runs in Guwahati thanks to a Glenn Maxwell special and kept themselves alive in the series.
(NDTV inputs)
