Jay Shah ensured Gujarat gets priority for cricket world cup matches: TMC's Saket Gokhale

Established cricket centres that have missed out on matches for ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 include Mohali, Indore, Rajkot, Ranchi and Nagpur.

Jay Shah (L). Credit: Reuters File Photo; Saket Gokhale. Credit: Twitter/@SaketGokhale

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale has alleged that BCCI secretary Jay Shah, the son of Home Minister Amit Shah, has ensured that Gujarat gets priority over other states in choice of venues for the cricket World Cup scheduled to begin from October 5.

As the International Cricket Council (ICC) and host BCCI announced the World Cup schedule on Tuesday, some Opposition leaders hinted at political interference in scheduling, raising questions over Ahmedabad getting big-ticket matches while many states miss out.

Read | 'Political interference': Oppn leaders question Ahmedabad getting WC matches, but not Mohali and Thiruvananthapuram

"Jay Shah -- BCCI Secretary and son of Amit Shah -- ensures Gujarat gets priority always over other states," TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The chosen venues include Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Dharamsala, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata. The established cricket centres that have missed out include Mohali, Indore, Rajkot, Ranchi and Nagpur.

Though it is an ICC event, the world body tends to go with venues proposed by the local organising committee, which is the BCCI in this case.