The International Cricket Council inspection team left Sylhet for Dhaka on Sunday afternoon without expressing a final opinion on the Sylhet Divisional Stadium’s inclusion as a venue for next year’s World Twenty20 tournament. The delegation said, however, that it would visit the stadium once again in September, when a final decision would be made.The ICC inspection team, led by event manager Chris Tetley, visited the Sylhet Divisional Stadium in the Lakkatura Tea Garden area at around 11:00am on Sunday.
The delegation included tournament director Dhiraj Malhotra and consultant Eugene Van Vuuren, accompanied by officials from the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the National Cricket Council.
The team arrived at Sylhet airport in the morning and went straight to the under-construction stadium, according to sources in the Divisional Sports Association.
They inspected the venue and the ongoing work on floodlight stands, the grandstand and the green gallery until 2:00pm, the sources said.
Tetley said that they were just visiting the stadium and were not going to make any immediate comments.
‘We are just inspecting the stadium and ensuring that the BCB, the NCC and stadium-related authorities are doing their respective jobs,’ he said.
Sylhet Divisional Sports Association general secretary Shafiul Alam Chowdhury said on Sunday afternoon that the ICC officials were given all the information they wanted during the inspection.
‘We are hopeful that the construction work for the stadium structures will be complete before the stipulated time and that the
inspection team members were satisfied after observing the rapid progress of the construction work,’ he said.
The newly-elected Sylhet City Corporation mayor, Ariful Haque Chowdhury, was also present at the stadium during the visit.
-With New Age input
