CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) is gearing up to reopen the grounds soon for training.
On Friday, the TNCA sent a letter to Chennai Corporation, requesting them to allow reopening the grounds, or at least the MA Chidambaram Stadium, for practice.
If approved, international players, probables for the upcoming Ranji Trophy and other state cricketers will be given access to use the nets at MAC in the initial period. Precautionary guidelines will be followed
and those who want to train will turn up in small groups.
After the state government issued the standard operating procedures for the resumption of practice last Friday, many top athletes in the state revealed that they would start practising in stadiums from Monday.
It was understood that the state cricket body was waiting for Tamil Nadu government’s decision on lockdown — it was announced on Thursday that the lockdown will be extended till August 31 with some relaxations — to take a decision on resumption.
“We have officially sent a request to the Corporation. Even if they allow us to open the Chidambaram Stadium, it would be of great help to the players. We want to open it as soon as possible," said the TNCA secretary RS Ramasaamy on Thursday.
Completing the first division league is still the priority for TNCA. The secretary had told this daily that the association will be aiming to complete the semifinals and final of the first division within a month if the lockdown is lifted.
On Thursday, the state government had announced that stadiums can be opened without spectators.
“We have around 13-14 grounds that are not being used as quarantine centres. If we get permission for other grounds (apart from MAC), we will look at conducting the remaining fixtures,” added the secretary.
Karthick returning to Tamil Nadu?
In a major development for state cricket, KB Arun Karthick might reunite with his home side — after a gap of six years — ahead of the upcoming Ranji Trophy.
It is understood that Karthick, an experienced top-order batsman and a handy wicketkeeper, has been in talks with the TNCA and is awaiting to get the no objection certificate from the Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP).
CAP announced in mid-July that the 32-year-old has been released. Karthick represented Tamil Nadu for six years before switching allegiance to Assam, Kerala and Puducherry. He has played 83 first-class matches and has amassed 4477 runs.