CHENNAI: Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) president and former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad placed the onus on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to play their home IPL fixtures at the iconic M Chinnaswamy Stadium. About 45 days into his stint as president, Prasad's key goal of bringing IPL and international matches is more or less achieved. The stadium received conditional permission from the Karnataka government, after the Prasad-led managing committee held various talks with local authorities.
"We have received the conditional permission from government, and we are confident of getting an unconditional permission sooner rather than later, and after doing all this, I sincerely hope that Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play all their seven home matches at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium," Prasad told reporters on Wednesday.
His plea to bring RCB back comes at a time when talks of RCB playing away from the city is gaining mileage. "The ball is in RCB's court. I also hope that RCB also gets involved and engages with the government for smooth conduct of the matches. So far, it has been only one sided. We are doing this for cricket," Prasad said, before adding, "So, from here onwards, the RCB has to take things forward. It is the responsibility of the RCB to take this dialogue forward. It is their responsibility to come back here and play and not to take the game away from Bengaluru. They have grown to this level only because of having played in Bengaluru and because of the Bengaluru crowd. So, I have asked them to come and play here," he said.
In June last year, a day after RCB won the IPL, a stampede occurred in the victory parade within the premises where 11 lives were lost. Every since that incident, the stadium has not seen any international cricket take place. It has missed out on the Women's World Cup matches, and will miss out on hosting Men's T20 World Cup matches. "The BCCI had told us that we will get some international matches to compensate for that, and that was their word during Tuesday's IPL Governing Council meeting," he added.
RCB's 'apprehensions'
KSCA secretary Santosh Menon assured RCB that every single corrective measure that has been put forward by the government officials has been adhered to in their letter and spirit. "RCB are keen on playing here. So, let's not take that away from them. But they have certain apprehensions which they have to clarify, which we will sit together and resolve. Probably they have issues with the government and not with us," he said.
The franchise, hours after the press conference, have reiterated their stance over being thorough before coming back to play matches. "While our desire is always to play at our home ground, in front of our ardent fans, we want to be thorough in our commitment to further understand the conditions applicable to host matches here and the measures taken to ensure fans safety protocols are met. Our goal is to see how best all stakeholders involved can work together," a statement from RCB said.
"From our preliminary conversations, there are still a few grey areas that need to be looked into, and we are considering these parameters and inputs from all stakeholders before arriving at a responsible decision for the team and our fans.” But Menon assured it can be resolved, and said the KSCA are ready to facilitate meetings between the franchise and the government. "I am sure the government and they will also be able to resolve it once the ice is broken. We will try and work together. It has been our commitment to them and our commitment remains," said Menon.
He further asked RCB to step forward and let the association know of their apprehensions. "Yes, they have certain apprehensions, and they told us that they will send us a detailed letter mentioning them. But from our side, we have given them confidence. They have to decide whether they want to play or not. They have said that they will tell us within the next 10 days about their decision. We are ready to play if they say yes. We have opened the doors for the RCB," he said.