THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thiruvananthapuram’s 18-year-old wait to host a first-class cricket match will come to an end when Vidharbha and Assam will face off in a four-day Ranji Trophy fixture at the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA)- St Xavier’s College Ground, Thumba here from October 20 to 23.
The district cricket officials were buoyed when P R Viswanath, the BCCI curator for south zone, visited the match venue on Thursday and expressed his satisfaction after he saw the pitch prepared for the game.
“The curator was satisfied with the pitch we have prepared for the game,” said Vinod S Kumar, secretary of the Thiruvananthapuram District Cricket Association. The venue will also host the Delhi versus Jharkhand game from November 5 to 8. The capital city last hosted a first-class match on December 24, 1998, when a Kerala side led by K N Ananthapadmanabhan hosted Tamil Nadu at the Agricultural College Ground, Vellayani in the Ranji Trophy. Tamil Nadu defeated the hosts by nine wickets in that Ranji Trophy match. The ground was renovated at a cost of Rs 4 crore in a joint venture by KCA and college management. It is the largest cricket ground in Kerala sporting a total of nine pitches and will become the fourth first-class venue in the city after University Stadium, Medical College Ground and Agricultural College Ground.
Two more first-class venues by December
Vinod said that the wickets at the Greenfield International Stadium in Karivattom, as well as KCA’s brand new stadium at Mangalapuram near Kazhakootam, will be ready by December this year. The BCCI curator also paid a visit to the international stadium the other day.
“The work on the pitches at the Greenfield Stadium began this week and will take a maximum of 90 days to complete,” said Vinod. KCA had signed an agreement with the stadium owners to maintain the stadium till 2027. “The Mangalapuram stadium will also be thrown open by the end of this year. We have finished work on eight wickets there," said Vinod.