Wodeyar and Brijesh to fight KSCA polls, revive KPL if elected

The scion of the Mysore royal family, Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, and former India batsman Brijesh Patel today announced that they will contest the Karnataka State Cricket Association elections for the posts of President and Secretary respectively.

"Myself and Brijesh have joined hands to contest the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) elections scheduled next month," Wodeyar told reporters here.
Former India captain Anil Kumble and his ex-teammate Javagal Srinath have decided not to seek re-election and consented to support whoever gets elected.

Kumble had defeated Wodeyar by a margin of 33 votes in 2010 elections.

Wodeyar, who was elected KSCA President after defeating former Indian Test cricketer Gundappa Vishwanath in 2007, said if voted to power he will revive some tournaments including the Karnataka Premier League (KPL).

"We want to revive KPL among many other U-14 and U-19 tournaments. The KPL T20 tournament has not been held since 2010 due to some reasons," Patel said.

Provident Bangalore had won the KPL's inaugural edition in 2009 and Mangalore United clinched the title in 2010.

Patel, who did not contest the last elections after holding the post for 12 years as secretary, said his team's main endeavour will be to improve the standard of cricket in Karnataka and develop a great infrastructure at the grassroots level.

The elections are for the 2013-2015 term. It is not yet clear whether they will have to contest the elections or chosen unanimously.