By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Security has been beefed up Monday in Orissa’s twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack ahead of Wednesday’s One-day International cricket match to be played between India and England.
Both the teams are expected to arrive here by a special chartered flight from Bangalore later in the day.
The fifth ODI match will be played at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, 25 kms from the capital city of Bhubaneswar. The teams will be staying at the Mayfair Lagoon in Bhubaneswar.
The administration claimed it had taken all measures to prevent any untoward incident.
India’s coach Greg Chappell was man-handled at the Biju Patnaik Airport in January last year during an ODI between India and West Indies.
“This time we are taking all measures to prevent any such incidents. We have deployed more than a hundred armed policemen at the airport. Besides, a large numbers of policemen are deployed in the hotel where the players would stay,” a senior district police official said.
“The total policemen deployed would be around a thousand,” deputy commissioner of police H.K. Lal told IANS.
There is a mad rush of cricket lovers to watch this day and night match because of the conducive climate, an official of the Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) said.
It is evident from the fact that in less than four hours, 75 per cent of tickets were sold Sunday, the OCA official said.
The stadium has a capacity of 34,000. A total of 8,395 tickets are reserved for affiliated units, members, sponsors and state associations.