IND vs AUS: Raipur's SVNS Stadium faces electricity issues ahead of 4th T20I

As per reports, there is a significant issue with the availability of electricity at Raipur's Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium ahead of India’s fourth T20I against Australia. The lack of power poses numerous challenges that the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association needs to figure out immediately for smooth, uninterrupted action. As things stand, the government destabilised the electricity connection five years ago and since then, the authority hasn’t made much of an effort to change the situation.

The stadium currently has an outstanding bill of INR 3.16 crore and unless the authority pays that, there’s little chance that the government will put an effort to stabilise the situation. As per NDTV, the floodlights would need to be run using a generator while there might be areas without electricity during the match on December 1.

The report also claims that the Secretary Cricket Association has applied to increase the capacity of the temporary connection of the stadium from 200 KV to 1000 KV. However, the work for the same is yet to begin which can be problematic as the game is scheduled to take place in a few hours. 

“As far as the stadium lights are concerned, I don't know how much bill is outstanding but a temporary connection has been taken in the name of CSCS,” Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh media coordinator Tarunesh Singh Parihar said.

Shreyas Iyer joins Indian camp for fourth T20I

Shreyas Iyer, who played a pivotal role for India in the recently concluded ODI World Cup, has joined the national squad ahead of the fourth T20I. Notably, he played his last T20I match in November 2022 before suffering a back injury, which ruled him out of IPL 2023.

It is unclear if the cricketer will straight walk into the playing XI as the middle order looks stacked at the moment. However, given that he is named as the vice-captain for the series, Iyer is likely to replace Yashasvi Jaiswal or Tilak Varma in the playing XI.