Date:10/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/10/stories/2008111056821800.htm

Sport - Cricket

Factionalism in the KSCA comes to the fore

Bangalore: Factionalism threatens to mar cricket in Karnataka at a time when the State squad is in the midst of the Ranji season. The Karnataka State Cricket Association’s managing committee meeting here on Sunday witnessed bad blood and a boycott.

The faction led by secretary Brijesh Patel stayed away while the group led by the president Srikanthadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar went ahead with the meeting.

The Brijesh Patel faction termed the meeting as illegal as its members did not attend while sources in the Wadiyar group said that the minimum quorum was met and hence the meeting and the resolutions passed were valid.

The Wadiyar faction has appointed a new State selection committee as the earlier one’s term had lapsed. Syed Kirmani will be the chairman and the other members are R. Ananth, Raghuram Bhat and Ashok Anand.

The president also reiterated that the Ranji matches at Mysore (November 17 to 20; November 23 to 26) will be held as scheduled.

The Brijesh Patel group also opposed the appointment of B.K. Ravi as assistant secretary and wanted A.V. Jayaprakash in that slot. Now with both factions claiming that they are in the ‘right’, cricket might well be the loser.