Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar against hosting of ODI in Kochi
The Windies will tour India for a Test, ODI and T20I series between October and November.
There have been very few grounds across the globe which host a couple of sports simultaneously. However, it requires immense maintenance from the grounds-men to sustain the quality of the turf for both games, which isn’t a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. Kerala has a couple of venues in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, which hosts cricket matches.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has allotted Kochi as an ODI venue for the Windies’ tour of India in November. However, they have been at the receiving end of criticism for the fact that the ground has recently hosted the Fifa Under-17 World Cup. The stadium has also been a host to the matches of Kerala Blasters in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL).
Sachin Tendulkar, the owner of the Blasters, has recently expressed his displeasure of assigning Kochi the ODI. The former Indian cricketer also feels that hosting of cricket matches might disturb the turf for which India might lose on being one of the six FIFA approved grounds in India.
Here is Tendulkar’s tweet
Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian skipper, supported the Mater Blaster’s comments. The owner of Kolkata-based franchise Atletico de Kolkata and shared a message on Twitter, the popular social media platform.
Here is Dada’s reply
However, in reply to Tendulkar’s opinions, KCA vice-president Abdul Rahman justified the decision. “The stadium has hosted cricket and football matches in the past. We had a meeting earlier with Greater Cochin Development Authority and told them about our decision to hold the cricket match here. Both sports can be played together.” he said.
Recently, Shashi Tharoor, the Union Minister, mentioned that he has spoken to Vinod Rai, the chairman of BCCI’s committee of Administrators regarding the move. Former Indian footballers IM Vijayan and CV Pappachan also have severely opposed the decision by the Kerala cricket board.
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