KSCA’s pride turning into dead asset

Bengaluru: The M Chinnaswamy Stadium, one of Bengaluru's biggest landmarks, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The unfortunate events of June 4 have put the stadium's very existence in question. On that fateful day, lakhs of Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans assembled at the venue to celebrate their beloved team's maiden IPL win but their joy soon turned into tragedy as 11 of them lost their lives in the ensuing stampede as the ecstatic crowd pressed forward for a glimpse of their heroes.

While the iconic venue has attracted more than its share of attention in the last couple of months, there are at least four grounds in the mofussil centres that are crying for some action. Well-equipped enough to host first-class matches, including India A fixtures, the facilities in Mysuru, Shivamogga, Hubballi and Belagavi -- all built at a total cost of around Rs 75-85 crore -- have been reduced to KSCA's white elephants with little or no match allocations in the last three years. 

Now, without a shadow of doubt, KSCA has been one of the pioneering bodies in domestic cricket in the country in not only taking the game to mofussil centres -- having built four fully functional grounds across the state that very few associations could boast about -- but also successfully tapping into the hinterland talent through the launch of its pioneering project Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW) wherein Talent Resource Development Officers (TRDO) would travel deep into the interiors of the state to unearth talents. Launched in 2001 during Brijesh Patel's second tenure as KSCA secretary, its success even inspired the Board of Control for Cricket in India to implement the system at the national level. 

In later years when Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath assumed the association's reins, they focussed on developing infrastructure in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Subsequently, three brand new stadiums were commissioned in Shivamogga, Hubballi and Belagavi while the Gangotri Glades -- later renamed the Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Stadium -- was upgraded with better facilities. An unprecedented 60 turf wickets were laid across Karnataka, covering most of the districts.       

Successive regimes over the years under different sets of administrators have shown vision and dedication to improve infrastructure in the aforementioned centres. All these venues have, or at least had, well-equipped dressing rooms, quality outfields, seating for spectators and practice facilities that have been deemed fit enough to host even India A games, in which the likes of Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Cheteshwar Pujara, among others, have taken part. 

It was with this intent of popularising and developing the game that the successive administrators allotted Ranji Trophy and other first-class matches to smaller cities which certainly attract more crowds than you would ever see at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. That doesn't mean there are no takers for domestic cricket in Bengaluru, but the distance, traffic and matches on weekdays make it difficult for fans to turn up at the stadium. Also, Ranji matches are the only chance for fans in smaller cities to witness some of the internationals in action. 

In the last four seasons, however, only three Ranji Trophy matches have been allotted to mofussil centres with all three of them falling in the 2023-24 season. While Hubballi hosted two, Mysuru got the other. Shivamogga had to contend with the CK Nayudu Trophy Trophy early last year and a few women's matches. Even the city-based Maharaja Trophy T20 was held only in Bengaluru the last year though Mysuru and Hubballi have successfully hosted the tournament on multiple occasions previously.

This year, too, it was going to be restricted to only M Chinnaswamy Stadium but the tragic events of June 4 still casting long and dark shadows over the venue, the city police denied KSCA the permission to host the event. With no choice, the event had to be shifted to Mysuru. 

But why not split the matches between Mysuru and Hubballi? And what about the Ranji Trophy matches in the upcoming season? What's the fate of the Women's World Cup matches that Chinnaswamy has been allotted?

DH's attempt to reach out to KSCA president Raghuram Bhat didn't elicit any response. 

Karnataka were fortunate to get four Ranji Trophy home matches each in the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons. But the KSCA dispensation held all the matches in Bengaluru.

When the former left-arm spinner took over as president in 2022, he had cited paucity of time as the reason for not hosting any game outside of Bengaluru. KSCA did conduct three matches outside of Bengaluru the next season before deciding to have all four matches in the capital the last season.

Player-turned-coach Dayanand Shetty rued lack of cricket in the Hubballi region. "We neither get KPL (Maharaja T20), nor Ranji Trophy matches. The stadium (at Rajnagar) sees no activity almost throughout the year. Even the players who have played at the regional level in KSCA recognised leagues aren't allowed to have "nets". I don't understand the point of having a facility and not using it.

"We were next only to Bengaluru and Mysuru in terms of performance, but now our teams are losing to even Tumkuru and Ballari sides. We have complained to KSCA officials in Bengaluru about this apathy but no one seems to care," he lamented.  

Ranji Trophy and 'A' games are the only top-end fixtures smaller cities get to host, and if they are denied even these contests, then those venues will turn into white elephants, defeating the KSCA's avowed purpose of strengthening the roots of the game beyond the State capital.

KSCA Stadium in Rajnagar Hubballi. 

A Ranji Trophy match at the Navule Stadium in Shivamogga.