CHENNAI: The verdict is out. Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad is elected to the President's chair of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) polls late on Sunday. Four out of five key posts have been won by those in "Team Game Changers."
“First and foremost, this is a victory for the sport of cricket. Secondly, this is a victory for all the members who wanted a change, all the people who wanted international cricket to come back to the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. This is a victory for all stakeholders - the cricket fans,” Prasad told reporters after becoming president.
Prasad edged past veteran sports administrator KN Shanth Kumar by a margin of 749-558 with 1307 members voting in the election. Former state player Sujith Somsundar will be Prasad's deputy as vice president and Santosh Menon will return to his post as KSCA secretary. Jairam had resigned, along with A Shankar, after the stampede at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in June during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL trophy celebrations.
BN Madhukar won the treasurer's post 736-571 ahead of MS Vinay. Somasundar won ahead of D Vinod Shivappa 719-588 while Menon got better of ES Jairam by 675-632. Somasundar is coming to KSCA after serving as BCCI head of education at the Centre of Excellence of the last few years.
BK Ravi, from 'Team Brijesh' won the post of joint secretary 669-638 ahead of AV Shashidhara. Meanwhile, former women’s cricketer Kalpana Venkatachar (764) and former Karnataka wicketkeeper batter Avinash Vaidya (691), who contested from Prasad's panel, were elected as members from the Bangalore Zone along with Aashish Amarlall (703).
The KSCA have been gaining attention for all the wrong reasons for the past six months. Post the RCB victory parade stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium where 11 lives were lost, the historic venue did not see the day of light, as matches — ranging from the Women's World Cup to the State's T20 league were moved away from it. Only age-group matches, without any fan attendance have been played. The next big sporting event at the venue will the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy matches.