ICC backs Kotla despite pitch fiasco

In what came as lease of life for disgraced Ferozshah Kotla, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said the world governing body was not in favour of banning the stadium for a longer period of time for the pitch fiasco during the recent India-Sri Lanka ODI.

ICC President David Morgan said the World Cup to be held in sub-continent from February 19 to April 2 next year would become "poor" without matches being hosted at the historic Kotla and a ban would not be appropriate in this case.

"I am not at all sure that such a ban would be appropriate in this case. It's not our desire that a pitch in an important city like New Delhi should be banned for a lengthy period," Morgan told NDTV.

"The World Cup would be poor without matches being hosted in New Delhi," he said.

Morgan, however, assured that an appropriate decision would be taken in this regard by the expert panel of ICC which is looking into the matter.

"You can be sure that an appropriate decision will be made by two expert people on the subject. ICC has written to the BCCI and the BCCI has two weeks from receiving our letter to respond," he said.

The Capital is in danger of losing its hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup following a scathing report on the Kotla pitch fiasco by ICC match referee Alan Hurst, who had classified the wicket "unfit".

The Kotla came into news for wrong reasons after the fifth and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka here on December 27 last year was called off after 23.3 overs due to a dangerous pitch.