BCCI appoints Bindra for damage control

New Delhi: While a ban on Feroz Shah Kotla is inevitable, the BCCI's goal now is to somehow save the ground as a World Cup host. And to get the job done, a man who knows the goings on in the ICC has been recruited.Known for his administrative skills, IS Bindra will have to bring his best negotiating skills to the table to rescue Delhi's chances of staging World Cup games.Delhi is scheduled to host four games in the World Cup: South Africa versus West Indies on February 24, the Netherlands versus West Indies on February 28, Canada versus Kenya on March 7, and then India versus the Netherlands on March 9.

           Sources say the BCCI is hoping to keep the ban down to 12 months on the Kotla so that this schedule isn't disturbed. While sections of the Board aren't opposed to a longer ban on the Kotla to teach the errant DDCA a lesson, some believe that if the Kotla loses its matches the process of finding an alternative will be tedious and time consuming."We will give them the reasons as to how the pitch was prepared, and then go into the background," said DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan, also a former India Test opener. "We will give our overall record, that matches have been played here in Delhi since 1932. We have held hundreds and hundreds of matches and they have all gone well. Also, Delhi is capital city, and then it is our intention, to make the pitches, the ground and other facilities as perfect as we can."

           While international cricket may not return to the Kotla anytime soon, the ground faces another litmus test in a few months. As home to the Delhi Daredevils, the playing surface will need drastic improvement to suit the demands of T20 cricket. But the man who was sacked after the fiasco on Sunday believes the ground will be ready."You'll find that the Kotla will have good wickets even in the IPL and after the next monsoon, it will have one of the better wickets in the country," Daljit Singh told CNN-IBN.What goes against Delhi is the harsh indictment of the ground by match referee Alan Hurst, who gave the pitch the worst possible assessmnet in his post match report. So all Delhi's fans can do is hope Bindra can limit the damage.