Raipur's Veer Narayan Singh Stadium to host 4th IND vs AUS T20I on generators due to unpaid electric bills worth ₹3.16 crore

The Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Raipur will host the fourth T20I between India and Australia on Friday with the help of generators as the venue has accumulated unpaid electric bills worth ₹3.16 crore since 2009.

As a result, the floodlights will have to be completely run on generators, with the power to the stadium having been cut off five years ago. According to a report by NDTV, Chhattisgarh State Cricket Association requested a temporary connection, but it only powers the spectators' gallery and the boxes.

The report further states that Raipur Rural Circle in-charge Ashok Khandelwal has requested to increase the power of the temporary connection from 200 KV to 1000 KV so that the floodlights can function throughout the contest. The application for the same has been approved, but the work is yet to be started, with only mere hours remaining for the match to begin.

The Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium, which marked India's 50th International venue, was inaugurated in 2008. Over the years, it has hosted a handful of Team India's matches as well as some Indian Premier League (IPL) contests.

The maintenance of the venue was supposed to be handled by the Public Works Department (PWD), and the responsibility for the expenditures was down to the Sports Department. There has been a dispute between the two aforementioned departments over the unpaid bill issue.

Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh media coordinator Tarunesh Singh Parihar said:

"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."

The venue has also received several warnings from the electricity department over the unpaid bills, but no attempt to pay the amount has been made so far.

It is to be noted that Raipur was not originally meant to host the contest. The fourth T20I was initially assigned to the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur.

Team India lead 2-1 in the T20I series ahead of the penultimate clash in Raipur

The Men in Blue narrowly missed out on the opportunity to wrap up the series in the third T20I itself in Guwahati. Australia clawed their way back into the series with a last-ball win, courtesy of Glenn Maxwell's heroics.

Team India will look to make some changes to their team, and so will Australia, with several members of their squad having withdrawn from the series. The likes of Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar return for India as they hope to wrap up the series in Raipur and not make the fifth and final T20I a decisive one.