The elections to the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) are less than three weeks away. With the entry of the tandem of Mysore scion Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the general belief is that the current team under KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel will find the going tough.

At a press conference organised by the Karnataka Cricket Abhimanigala Vedike on Wednesday, both Patel and association vice-president Gundappa Viswanath -- who will contest for the secretary and the president’s posts respectively -- showed no signs of nerves as they chose to graciously focus on their achievements over the last nine years rather than indulge in a mud-slinging exercise against their projected opponents.

Outlining their accomplishments and the initiatives taken in the last several years, former Indian captain Viswanath said, “One of the biggest pluses has been players becoming voting members in the KSCA. This is something that happened only after Brijesh became the secretary. There are some 1,200 voters and 230 clubs. The public, who have encouraged the association by turning up in large numbers at all international games here, are our real supporters, and we will always remain grateful to them. But voting members are important for elections, and most of them know and appreciate what we are doing.”

‘Always tough’
Patel’s opening remarks were indicative of his relaxed state of mind. “It’s always tough to bat after Vishy!” he quipped.

“I have always batted after him, and it is a tough call. We have been reading about the opposition claiming the support of 20 clubs or so. There are 230 clubs in all, do we interpret then that they have the support of only 20 clubs?

“Voting rights for players is something we are proud about. Earlier, players couldn’t even stand for association elections unless they were with clubs. I strongly believe a cricketer should head our association, and who better to head the KSCA than Vishy. He has been the captain of Karnataka as well as India, and was named gentleman cricketer of the country. He has played in every town in Karnataka to promote cricket, and it will be a very, very proud moment for all of us if he can head the association, which is why we back him to be the KSCA president.”

Both former Indian batsmen touched upon the KSCA’s pension scheme -- “The BCCI took a leaf out of our book” -- and on the benevolent fund for Ranji payers and umpires. They also touched upon the KSCA academies that exist in eight centres. “We want to spread our wings to all districts in a phased manner,” Patel added.

“We have had very good results, more than 50 percent of the State side in all age-group cricket as well as the senior squad is made up of players from the mofussils who, we feel, are much more hungry, tough and focussed.

“People are saying we have only three players in the current Indian team from Karnataka. It is a cycle -- Mumbai has only Sachin Tendulkar. Also, cricket has spread to all parts of the country -- which is why you have a Dhoni from Jharkhand, players from Orissa, all playing for India.”

Taking offence
Viswanath took offence to the fact that some people in the KSCA referred to Patel as an ‘outsider.’ “He played all his life for Karnataka. When he retired from first-class cricket, he retired as the then record-holder. How come no one called him an outsider then?” he said with studied annoyance.

Patel added that the elections were significant from the point of view of carrying forward the programmes initiated by the current establishment. “When we took over (in 1998), we inherited finances to the tune of minus Rs 60 lakh. Now, we have Rs 23 crore in fixed deposits, and that is apart from developmental activities on which we have spent Rs 10 crore.”

The KSCA will introduce internet booking for the India-Australia one-dayer on September 29. “We are also one of the venues for the next World Cup, and we must work with that in mind,” said Patel, in whose tenure the KSCA became the first association in the world to introduce mobile ticketing.