Ishant’s family denied entry to Kotla

In a shocking turn of events, promising India pacer Ishant Sharma’s family was denied entry into the Kotla on Thursday during team India’s felicitation ceremony due to unavailability of a valid invitation.

The DDCA has long been in the news for such happenings in the past during international matches, but this happened on a day the galleries were opened for public for free, and that too during a public function.

The Delhi and District Cricket Association did not even find it necessary to send an invite to Ishant’s family for the function, although the pacer was being awarded a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh by the association for his swashbuckling performances on the Australian soil.

The Delhi lad’s family only managed to enter th Kotla as the ceremony was nearing it’s end. They were not available for comment.

DDCA played the blame game thereafter despite being the hosts of the function.

"The whole ceremony was being organised by the BCCI, it’s their responsibility, not ours," said DDCA vice president C.K. Khanna.

However, DDCA secretary S.P. Bansal tried to douse fires, saying lack of time was the real culprit behind the fiasco.

"The whole function had to be organised at such a short notice. We had less than 24 hours to manage the event. I do agree things were messed up," Bansal said.

Asked whether the Delhi player’s family had been sent an invitation for the event, Bansal replied: "We had send the invitation passes to the families of all Delhi players, I do not know how they did not get one. But it’s for all to see that managing so many luminaries and almost a 35,000 crowd is no easy task."

News Source : Samachar