Cuttack, not one of the favourite cricket venues of visiting teams, is likely to host a one-day international during the triangular series between India, New Zealand and Australia in October-November this year.
Though the tours and fixtures committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India has not yet announced the venues for the upcoming series, Cuttack, by virtue of rotation, will get a chance to host a one-day international.
Cuttack has been in the eye of a storm in recent times because of ticket scams besides the travelling distance of teams from Bhubaneswar -- which forces cricketers to leave their hotels at 6.30 in the morning for a 9 a.m match.
The Orissa Cricket Association earned a bad name in the 1999-2000 cricket series against Zimbabwe when the general public could hardly lay their hands on tickets before the 'sold-out' signs went up. It even led to the outcry of a probe in the state legislative assembly.
When Cuttack hosted the next one-day international against England in the 2001-2002 series, police manned the selling of tickets and such was the demand for tickets, an individual was allowed to buy only two tickets.
According to an official of the OCA, there is a demand for at least 150,000 tickets even though the capacity of the Barabati Stadium is only 27,500.
The tours and fixtures committee, which met in Mumbai on Saturday, appreciated the fact that construction of a toll bridge has reduced the travelling distance of teams by half an hour between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
Cuttack is a regular one-day venue under the BCCI calendar but due to lack of a five-star hotel and transportation problems, it has hosted only two Tests, the last being the one against New Zealand in 1995-96.
In recent times, the International Cricket Council has imposed certain norms for venues hosting international matches. It can even consider banning certain venues as was the threat to Jamshedpur, Nagpur and Rajkot, where ODIs against West Indies last season were disrupted by crowd trouble.
Under the BCCI charter, nine Test centres -- Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Mohali, Bangalore, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Nagpur -- are regular venues which host matches by rotation.
The ODI rotation order, which also includes Test venues are Vizag, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Indore-Gwalior, Goa, Mohali, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Guwahati, Cochin, Faridabad, Jamshedpur, Nagpur, Baroda, Cuttack, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kanpur and Rajkot.
It is also almost certain that Mohali and Bangalore will host the two Test matches against New Zealand in October.
According to sources, Kanpur wanted to host a Test because it had let Mumbai Cricket Association host the first Test against West Indies last season on a request to celebrate Sachin Tendulkar's 101st Test. But it was decided it would put other state associations, waiting in the rotation line, at a disavantage.
