BCCI's ACU Chief Orders Hosting Associations To Tighten Up Security For India, South Africa Players

In the wake of Chandigarh Police not providing adequate security to India and South Africa players in Mohali, BCCI’s ACU chief Ajit Singh has asked for beefed up security especially inside the stadium. The ACU chief’s comment came after fan breached the security and invaded the pitch while the second T20I was underway at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium, Mohali.

The Indian team also could not get any security arrangement from the Chandigarh Police — due to non-payment of dues. Later, the hotels had to provide security to the players on day one of the team’s stay in Mohali. On the following day, the police were back in charge. Ajit Singh has now warned hosting associations against any security lapse — on and off the field.

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A BCCI official has confirmed that the authorities have sent a mail to all the hosting associations to take the players’ security seriously.

“ACU chief Ajit Singh has written to all the hosting associations and has made it clear that such a lapse will not be tolerated in the future. Lack of security arrangement can be a major issue and can even lead to a dangerous situation because we are all aware that fans can sometimes go overboard in order to show their love for their favourite players,” the functionary told IANS.

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The news outlet also accessed the mail from the ACU chief. Singh has asked for beefed up security inside the stadium to avoid scenarios like in Mohali when two fans invaded the pitch.

“To deter pitch invasions, security staff should be positioned between the boundary rope and the public fencing. The security staff should be positioned to face the crowd. The security personnel should be placed at equidistant intervals around the boundary and be placed in the immediate vicinity of traditional boundary fielding positions including long off, long on, deep fine leg, deep third man, deep mid-wicket and deep cover,” the mail read.

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As many as two incidents occurred when the fans invaded the pitch. The first one took place when the South Africa innings was underway while the second one happened when Virat Kohli was happened. On both the occasions, the security personnels made timely intervention to drag the invaders out of the ground.