Sunil Gavaskar: Barabati should be banned

The disgraceful behaviour of spectators at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack has led to calls for heavy penalties on the Odisha Cricket Association. Leading the charge was former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who told a TV channel that the venue deserved to be banned from hosting international matches and the Indian cricket board's (BCCI) annual subsidies to the association should be suspended.

"There has to be a deterrent, you cannot allow that to happen," Gavaskar said. "I would imagine that the next time they are due for an international game that should not be given to them. Maybe it will be another two years before Cuttack gets a game, but that game should not be given to them and it should be announced that it has not been given to them because of crowd behaviour."

Gavaskar also said the annual subsidy provided to the Orissa Cricket Association, the host body , should be stopped since "quite clearly a strong message has to be sent." Spectators threw bottles on to the ground in three separate incidents during India's six-wicket defeat to South Africa in the second T20 International. Two of them led to stoppage in play and although proceedings was eventually completed.

"The policemen should not be watching cricket but monitor the behaviour of the fans," Gavaskar said, adding that irrespective of the team's performance, the spectators have no right to disrupt play . "Does the crowd throw valuables when the team does well? When the team does badly, the fans have no business to throw rubbish."

"I have been playing in India for the last five to six years and never, ever have I witnessed such an incident," a shaken Faf du Plessis, South Africa's T20I captain, said. "I don't think it's nice for cricket. Hopefully, it's the first and last time I'm seeing such a thing."

India's captain MS Dhoni, was more forgiving, saying it wasn't a serious threat. "From a safety point of view, I don't think there was a very serious threat. A few of the powerful people from the crowd were good enough to throw the bottles inside the rope. So the umpires thought it was better that players go off the field for a while. The reaction of the crowd, you know, we didn't play well, so at times you get reactions like this. It's only the first bottle. After that they start throwing for fun. I still remember we played in Visakhapatnam once, we won the game very easily, and that time also a lot of bottles were thrown."

Odisha CM orders probe

Cuttack might have narrowly escaped the ignominy of an abandoned international game following Monday's crowd trouble in the second T20 International but chief minister Naveen Pattnaik has ordered a probe into the matter. The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), however, says it has yet to receive any official communication from the state government, or from the Indian cricket board (BCCI).

A day after the debacle, OCA secretary Asirbad Behera told TOI that the association had decided to ban water bottles and water pouches during matches. "We understand spectators were disappointed but that can happen in any game. It was very sad to see people behaving in such a way. They should have shown some maturity," Behera said.

"There are many taps inside the stadium and below the galleries so it won't be a problem for spectators to quench their thirst. We are banning water bottles from now on. We didn't ban it earlier because we thought it will be troublesome for people during summer to come down for a glass of water. But this kind of behaviour has left us with no choice," said Behera.

The height of the nets separating spectators and the ground will also be increased. "Now the nets currently protect the field from the lower galleries but we will raise the height so that people can't throw anything from the upper tiers. On Monday the crowd of Gallery No. 2 and 4 were the chief troublemakers. Later it became fun and people from other galleries joined in," he said.