BCCI officials happy with UAE venues for IPL

A BCCI venue inspection team Saturday visited venues in UAE that will be hosting some of the matches of the Indian Premier League 2014 and said they were "happy" with the facilities.

The BCCI officials, consisting of M.V. Sridhar, GM -- Cricket Operations, BCCI, and P.R. Vishwanathan, Curator, BCCI, visited the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah Cricket Stadium and Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

They also visited the ICC Academy at Dubai.

"We are very happy with the facilities at the venues that will be hosting the UAE leg of the Pepsi IPL 2014. The infrastructure is on par with any of the leading international venues."

"Considering the amount of cricket that has been played at these venues in the recent past, the ground and pitch maintenance is noteworthy. We are confident that the facilities and ground conditions will provide the platform for an exciting first leg of the Pepsi IPL 2014," Sridhar said.

The primary purpose of the exercise was to assess the ground conditions, status of the pitches, outfield and practice facilities at the venues.

The team also inspected the facilities that are in place for the players, match officials and umpires, including the dressing rooms and medical arrangements.

The venue inspections were followed by a meeting with the venue officials and curators, at the ICC Academy. The IPL guidelines and pitch requirements were explained and elaborated upon during this meeting.

IPL teams are expected to arrive in the UAE in the second week of April 2014.