Shashi Tharoor to lead protest over shifting ODI to Kochi

Shashi Tharoor

Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor has called all cricket lovers to assemble at the Martyrs Column in Thiruvananthapuram to take part in a candlelight protest on Saturday against the decision of the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) to shift the November 1 ODI from here to Kochi.

Candlelight march
"Keep cricket in TVM, save Kochi turf," he wrote on Twitter. The candlelight protest is expected to be held at 6pm. There has been an uproar against the KCA ever since it decided earlier this week to move the ODI to Kochi. It was after almost three decades that the state capital hosted an international cricket match last year - a T20 between India and New Zealand, the first at the newly- commissioned state-of-the-art Greenfield Stadium.

The venue's facilities and the ground won huge appreciation from Sachin Tendulkar to Harsha Bhogle and numerous others. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Kochi last hosted an ODI in 2014 and since the beginning of the Indian Super League (ISL) football tournament, it has been the home venue of Tendulkar co-owned Kerala Blasters.

While KCA secretary Jayesh George has maintained that the BCCI, which gave one match to Kerala, has the right to select the venue and they are confident the Kochi turf can be restored to its original condition for the smooth conduct of the ISL as it happened in 2014.

Experts roped in
Meanwhile, CN Mohanan, Chairman of Greater Cochin Development Authority, which owns the stadium, said, experts' view will be taken whether the stadium can host cricket matches without damaging its world class football turf, a top official said.

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