The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Wednesday wrote to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah requesting him to postpone the Bengal senior team’s home matches and the U-23 team’s scheduled matches due to the Cyclone Dana.

“The Bengal Cricket Association has written to Jay Shah, honorary secretary of the BCCI, to postpone the Bengal Seniors and Bengal Under-23 home matches scheduled for October 26 and 27 respectively for a few days, as the city is expected to be affected by Cyclone Dana,” CAB said in a press release.

The West Bengal government has evacuated over 1.14 lakh people from vulnerable areas, including the Sundarbans and Sagar Island, to safer shelters, according to an official statement.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday that the cyclone was likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra port, located about 70 km apart in neighboring Odisha, early Friday.

To support the evacuation efforts, 13 battalions of the West Bengal Disaster Management Team and 14 battalions of the NDRF have been deployed in the coastal regions of the state, officials said.

The state government has identified 2,82,863 people from Bankura, Hooghly, Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas, Paschim and Purba Medinipur and Kolkata districts for evacuation. So far, 1,14,613 people have already been brought to safety, they said.

The evacuation is mainly aimed at moving people from coastal areas to shelters, especially in South 24 Parganas district, which includes Sagar Island, Sundarbans and Kakdwip. Residents of areas such as Kakdwip, Namkhana, Diamond Harbor and Raichak have also been relocated to safer locations.

The state government has distributed tarpaulins and ensured that dry ration, milk powder and drinking water bags are available in these districts, preparing for a potential crisis, officials said.

(With PTI inputs)