With Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister J. Jayalalitha writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking for SriLankan players and officials to be excluded from Indian Premier League (IPL)matches to be staged in Chennai, the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) hasoffered to host these matches at Kochi.
KCA secretary T.C. Mathew told IANS they would be glad to stage at Kochi allthe matches that are scheduled in Chennai.
"We have already hosted IPL matches (fourth edition) in 2011 and we haveno issues in organising it this time. I am meeting Chief Minister Oommen Chandyto discuss this issue because we require the full support of the stategovernment and the Kochi Corporation. We will have to get exemption inentertainment taxes," said Mathew.
Jayalalitha wrote the letter following the increased political tension in thestate over the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The sixth edition of IPL is slated to begin from April 3 and Chennai has 10matches in the calendar. In this year's IPL, 13 Sri Lankan players are includedin various teams and Nuwan Kulasekara and Akila Dananjaya are members of thelocal franchisee - Chennai Super Kings.
The KCA is confident they can host the matches at the Jawaharlal NehruInternational Stadium at Kochi, which is the only one in the state ofinternational standard and has already staged eight One-Day Internationals(ODI) in the past 14 years. The last was held in January this year when theEnglish team toured the country.
The stadium witnessed a full house in 2011 when the Kochi Tuskers played theirIPL home matches as later their franchisee was cancelled.