NEW DELHI: The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) responded to the show cause notice issued by the Odisha government regarding the floodlight malfunction during the India-England ODI at Barabati Stadium on February 9.
The OCA stated that it would take steps to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.
The second ODI between India and England was disrupted for approximately 30 minutes due to a floodlight tower not functioning properly.Consequently, the state government issued a show cause notice to the OCA on February 10, seeking a response within 10 days.
Pankaj Lochan Mohanty, the newly elected OCA president, addressed the media in Cuttack and stated that the OCA had submitted its reply to the state government.
“We have submitted our reply to the state government. To ensure that such an incident does not happen again during such important matches, we have decided to deploy two generator sets to supply power to each floodlight,” Mohanty said.
Mohanty’s predecessor, Sanjay Behera, had previously explained that the backup generators could not reach the floodlight tower immediately because the players’ bus was parked nearby.
The driver had to be called to remove the vehicle before the generators could reach the tower and restore power.
Mohanty mentioned that after the ODI, another important match was held until 1:30 am without any disturbance. He also stated that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had not sought any report regarding the incident.
Mohanty assumed the role of OCA president after being elected unopposed for the post. He had previously served as the OCA president from 2019 to 2022.
The position was vacant following the resignation of Pranab Prakash Das, a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader, who had been elected as the OCA president in October 2022 but resigned in December 2024.
