Gill to play for Punjab in a closed-door affair

India’s Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill will turn up for Punjab in a Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture against Sikkim on Saturday, but the match will be played behind closed doors.

Last week, more than 20,000 spectators had turned up at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium to watch Rohit Sharma in action for Mumbai. However, Punjab will play at the Jaipuria Vidyalaya Ground, where there are no facilities for the spectators.

Situated inside the school premises, the ground has no proper seating arrangements for spectators. Even though there’s a small gallery above the players’ changing rooms, it is only restricted to the BCCI delegates, and the students of the school and the academy.

A couple of days ago, when Yashasvi Jaiswal featured for Mumbai against Goa at the same ground, hundreds of spectators climbed up the high walls to catch a glimpse of the Indian Test opener.

“The fixtures were decided much in advance, and back then, there was no clarity about the availability of the international players,” D.D. Kumawat, the convenor of the ad-hoc committee for the Rajasthan Cricket Association, told The Hindu.

With India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav also set to play for Mumbai against Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday at the same venue, there were speculations that the game could be shifted to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, which can accommodate nearly 25,000 spectators. But Kumawat said that with a programme scheduled there, a change was not possible.