Kerala loses India-South Africa women’s cricket series

KOCHI: The women’s ODI and T20I series between India and South Africa scheduled for March have been moved out of Thiruvananthapuram after the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) communicated to the BCCI of its inability to host the matches at the Sports Hub.
The KCA, in a press release issued on Monday, stated that IL&FS, the custodians of the Sports Hub, had made the ground available for an army recruitment drive without its prior knowledge making it impossible for the state cricket body to find an alternative venue of international standards in a short span of time.
It is likely that these matches, five ODIs and three T20Is, will now be held in Bengaluru.
"We had got permission from the chief minister and the sports minister to go ahead with the matches. There was a Covid first-line treatment centre at the Sports Hub and we were about to sanitize all places and get the stadium ready in time for the matches but IL&FS allotted the stadium for army recruitment drive without our knowledge which is against the contract the KCA have with it. With these matches needing broadcast facilities, we were not in a position to shift them to a smaller venue," said KCA president Sajan Varghese.
The KCA has a lease agreement with the IL&FS to use the Sports Hub, popularly known as the Greenfield Stadium, for cricketing activities for six months in a year. The state association has been maintaining the ground and the pitches and the KCA says it spends nearly 75 lakh rupees yearly for the upkeep of the venue.
While the allotment of the army drive is cited as the major reason, the constant tiff KCA has with IL&FS seems to have reached a breaking point forcing it to back out from hosting these matches. "IL&FS has demanded 88 lakhs from KCA for conducting these eight matches at the venue. The BCCI will be giving only the amount required to conduct the matches and with no gate or advertising revenue, KCA will not be able to meet the demands of such a huge amount," said Vinod Kumar, Trivandrum District Cricket Association secretary.
The IL&FS spokesperson in Thiruvananthapuram refused to comment on the matter.
The KCA, meanwhile, has also taken a decision to stop the maintenance works at the Sports Hub, a seemingly temporary move to let the state government intervene and find a solution. With minister Kadakampally Surendran voicing his angst over Kerala losing these matches through a social media post, the government stepping in to resolve issues related to the Sports Hub does seem a possibility.