It'll be Wadiyar vs Maiya

It will be a direct fight between Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and Sadananda Maiya for the post of president in the Karnataka State Cricket Association elections on December 1.

Maiya is leading the panel backed by incumbent president and secretary, Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, while Wadiyar has joined hands with foe-turned-friend Brijesh Patel, who is seeking election for the secretary’s post. Former international umpire AV Jayaprakash has been pitted against Brijesh from Maiya’s group.

Meanwhile, the BDK Sports Club from Dharwad Zone has become the first club to be elected to the Managing Committee after it was declared winner unopposed following Wednesday’s last date for withdrawal.

Maiya, who was the treasurer when Brijesh was the secretary till 2007, said he walked out of former’s group because of constant in-fighting and fruitless arguments. “I came back again when Anil and Srinath asked me to contest again in 2010 and I have seen the kind of commitment they have towards Karnataka cricket. It would have been nice if they had contested this time as well but it’s their support and backing that has encouraged us to take up this responsibility,” he said.

Srinath spoke about four-point vision for the next three years should the panel they are backing comes to power. Topping on the list is the spreading of the game to more parts of the State. “We conducted two months of a free training for 2500 kids in 42 centres throughout the State,”he pointed out. “These 42 centres will become permanent centres from now on.”

“There is no need to buy grounds to have these centres. What we have started is a beautiful relationship with schools and colleges which are the key places for the growth of cricket in Karnataka.”

Under the vision, Srinath said, game will be taken to rural schools under the Rural Development Programme aimed at providing equal opportunity to tap and promote rural cricketers. The Azim Premji Foundation, which already has tie-up with about 2500 rural schools, has been approached to help KSCA in this regard.

Vision II, Srinath said, is to develop zonal cricket further. Each of the zones will add six to seven cricket centres acting as feeders to the respective zones. This, Srinath stressed, will add up to 40-45 new cricket centres in the State.

The development of club infrastructure will be the priority in Vision III including procuring grounds, turfing, matting and netting along with proper maintenance of facilities in Bangalore and six other zones. According to Srinath this will benefit at least 150 clubs across Karnataka.  

The KSCA also intends to start an Education Scholarship for ‘deserving’ academy boys. “The talented trainees who are economically backward will be given scholarship so that they can both study and play cricket without worry. We will take care of their school fees and other educational expenses,” Srinath pointed out.