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Panaji: Not disappointed after losing out on hosting a match during the forthcoming India-South Africa series, Goa Cricket Association (GCA) is now looking forward to stage a tie if New Zealand tour the country in last quarter of this year.
"After the Kotla pitch fiasco, the BCCI does not want to leave anything to chance. The BCCI has now made it mandatory for all centres to prepare the pitch at least three months before the contest," GCA president Dayanand Narvekar said.
"The BCCI has allotted the Test and ODI's to permanent centres. After the Delhi ODI fiasco, it is well understood why Goa has been left out," he added.
"The news relayed to me by the BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty was a minor setback for us. We are now hoping to host another ODI - possibly against New Zealand in December this year," he said.
Initially, Goa was among the shortlisted venues for the ODI series against South Africa in February, but Goa Football Association's threat to drag the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG), who had permitted GCA to prepare the pitch at the Nehru Stadium, to court over the stadium's availability prompted BCCI's decision.
Importantly, the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch fiasco that led to abandonment of fifth and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Delhi, is also understood to have upset the calculations.
Meanwhile, questions are now being raised how the SAG allowed the GCA to start work on the pitch at Nehru Stadium, even though there was no confirmation from the BCCI's Tours and Fixtures Committee.
With the pitch already dug, there has been considerable damage to the turf and many fear that it will take some time before football could be resumed at Fatorda.
Goa Football Association secretary Savio Messais said it is the SAG Director Prabhudesai to be blamed for having granted permission to carry out the digging work on the turf, which has caused colossal damage to the sport and drained the SAG's finances.
"SAG spent lakhs of rupees on laying a new turf at the start of the season, but now with the pitch being dug for nothing, it is been such a financial disaster," Messais said adding that Prabhudesai should either resign on moral grounds or be sacked by the Chief Minister.
