Ball is in our court, says triumphant Patel

Bengaluru: The battle for power is often mired in ego clashes with mud-slinging and bitterness being the unsavoury result. All this and more was seen at the Karnataka State Cricket Association elections on Sunday .

While the war for the KSCA plum posts saw Team Wadiyar-Brijesh come back to power with a landslide victory, larger issues lie ahead of the team which has realigned after a gap of three years.

The absolute win with a 3/4th mandate clearly proved which faction had the support of the vote bank.

Unlike previous elections, where a majority of the cricketing fraternity finished on the winning side, the wheel of fortune spun in the opposite direction this time around.

While Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and Brijesh Patel have the members on their side, the latter, a former international cricketer himself, is lacking in support from his fraternity.

As the secretary of one of the premier cricket associations in the country, Patel will now have to work towards bridging the gap between the former players and his team and clean up the bad blood.

A day after returning to power, the 60-year-old Patel said he was willing to work with anyone for the sake of the game in the state.

“The ball is in our court and we need to work on the development of cricket. Everybody is welcome to contribute.

“Its not the first time we have been opposed and now we are ready put our plans in action,” said Patel.

Three years ago, when the team led by Anil Kumble came to power it seemed like all was well between them and Patel, but in reality they have had a thorny relationship with lack of trust being a moot factor. Need six-month break says Srinath Need six-month A day after relinquishing office, Kumble was not available for comments, while Srinath, who was replaced by Patel as secretary, was non-committal about his involvement in state cricket.

Srinath said, “I need a sixmonth break. For three years I had put myself into work and now I want to spend some quality time with my family.“

When prodded further if he's willing to chip in, Srinath, who is also an ICC match referee said, “It's time to get people who can supplement and complement to work as a team. People with fresh ideas are needed, I won't step away from cricket, at the same from cricket, at the same time I would want to see lot more cricketers to come forward and chip in.“

With the months of bitter politicking concluding, it's time for cricket at KSCA to take centre stage again.

It's important it does to keep the rich legacy of Karnataka cricket going.