India's cricket coach Greg Chappell will be provided special security when he arrives here for Thursday's one-day match against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, police said. Officials in the cricket-crazy eastern metropolis are clearly not taking a chance on Chappell, who was assaulted by an unruly fan during the recent home series against the West Indies.
The former Australian captain, 58, was pushed and hit on the back when the Indian team arrived at Bhubaneswar airport in the eastern state of Orissa on January 22. Chappell, who was rushed into the team bus stationed outside the airport gate, escaped unhurt.
Kolkata police official P.K. Chatterjee said his force will not allow such an incident to happen again when the Indian team arrives over the next 24 hours. "Special security has been planned for Chappell," Chatterjee told AFP. "We will not allow Bhubaneswar to be repeated. "We will throw a ring around Chappell during his stay in the city. "If Chappell travels by car from the airport, police vans will escort the vehicle till the hotel. "If he goes by the team bus, at least five senior police officials will be deployed inside."
Thousands of security men will frisk each spectator at the entrance of the 100,000-seater Eden Gardens on match day, Chatterjee added. Kolkata police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee also heads the Cricket Association of Bengal, which is organising the match.
Chappell, who took over as Indian coach in June 2005 for a two-year term, has faced close scrutiny in a cricket-mad nation desperate to see its team succeed on the international scene. India and Sri Lanka will be playing their last series before the World Cup opens in the Caribbean on March 13. After Thursday's opener in Kolkata, the other matches will be played in Rajkot (February 11), Goa (February 14) and Visakhapatnam (February 17).
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