In the Barsapara Cricket Stadium for Sunday’s T20I between India and Sri Lanka, posters, banners and message boards will not be permitted, Devajit Saikia, Assam Cricket Association (ACA) secretary said on Friday.

Placards showing “4” and “6”— at T20 games are a staple — which will not be permitted too much, he said, because they can use the advertisements of surrogates. No marker pens will be allowed inside, he said.

Only men’s wallets, ladies ‘ handbags, mobile phones, and vehicle keys will be permitted within the stadium.

With Guwahati’s police commissioner MP Gupta sitting on his right, Saikia said the order had nothing to do with protests about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that engulfed most of the state, resulting in curfews, internet shutdowns, and four deaths.

“Everybody is concerned, not just the people of Assam. This is an international event and will have heightened security measures,” said Saikia. Saikia referred to a stone breaking the Australia team bus window here in 2017 after the T20I to support the point. “We have to be prepared.”

The Prohibition Is Due To An Agreement

The prohibition on placards and posters is due to an agreement that has been finalized between the BCCI and a multi-national product, which took place a week before.

A BCCI official said placards printed with ‘ 4 ‘ and ‘ 6 ‘ are typically produced by the sponsors of the show. “However, BCCI will abide by whatever the local authorities say on this,” an official said.

Gupta did not specify the number of police personnel to be deployed on Sunday but said no special security arrangements were being made. 

“We are going through the standard drill and have implemented the sufficient number of security personnel,” he said.

“Whatever security protocol we have to follow, we are,” said Saikia. “Nothing more, nothing less. No situation arose where the ACA or the BCCI were skeptical about holding this match. Following a timeline, we have prepared for this for a month. That is why we are so relaxed,” Saikia added.

BCCI representatives Mamon Majumdar had requested the spectators– regarding the selling of 27,000 tickets and a full house of 39,400 for the expectation -to “behave very nicely because people from outside, other states will watch us and say spectators are very well-behaved.”

That’s because ACA wants to use the game from Sunday to prepare the ground for hosting matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

Rajasthan Royals said they were keen to play games here that would be a first for the state. “It is a like a dream situation for us,” Saikia said,

Including in the past few years, the ACA has tried to persuade the IPL Governing Council to host matches in Guwahati.