NEW HOPE

Kerala's renewed tryst with cricket

by Aayush Puthran • Last updated on

Thiruvananthapuram's international debut in the third India-New Zealand T20I comes as a momentous occasion for cricket in Kerala. © AFP

On Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy clash between Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir, a brief drizzle halted play. That was a reason enough for Kerala's reserve players to take the football and get on with a game. It didn't matter if it was raining, it was time to break into a game of football. For a long time, football has remained the undisputed No. 1 sport in Kerala, and even the growing popularity of cricket since mid-1980s hasn't dented the obsession for it.

The reasons for that are many, starting from the fact that cricket has always been an expensive sport. But if that had to be a solitary reason, it didn't hold much weight, since the sport had managed to reach through to some very remote parts of the country.

Cricket in Kerala got a push time and again, but it hasn't quite worked. IPL came to the state with Kochi Tuskers, but ended abruptly. A star emerged in the form of Sreesanth, and even that ended abruptly. The stadium in Kochi, which witnessed several iconic moments, is now being primarily used for football. Cricket has now moved to Thiruvananthapuram's Greenfield International Stadium, which was taken on a 30-year lease from IL&FS, an Indian infrastructure development and finance company. Even as that is also a multi-purpose stadium, it is one of Kerala Cricket Association's latest attempts to give cricket a new lease of life; sitting proudly in their Vision 2020.

And as it turned out, the tickets were sold out within three days of the start of the booking. A board announcing "All tickets for T20 match sold out," was placed proudly outside the KCA office.

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Cricket came to Kerala in the early 1950s, with the first Ranji team being formed in 1952-53. "Cricket had just started breeding then," JK Mahendra, a former Kerala captain, tells Cricbuzz. "There was no money in the game, everyone played because they came from a wealthy background. The players were amateurs, they were not coached. They played cricket in the villages with the Englishmen. That's how they made the state team."

In the true sense, cricket came to Kerala with the arrival of Balan Pandit, who in hindsight can be called the father of Kerala cricket. Pandit, who had represented Kathiawar from 1946 in Ranji Trophy, was a BEST employee and played local cricket in Mumbai (then Bombay). At the insistence of Lt Col GV Raja, he came to Kerala to teach cricket to the first-class cricketers.

"I was in his camp in Cannanore, and it is there that I learnt to hold the bat at the age of 12," Mahendra recalls. Pandit remains the single biggest figure in Kerala cricket; and to his credit as a player, he also held the record for the most runs scored by a Kerala player (262*) before it was broken by Sreekumar Nair in 2007.

However, while cricket was finding acceptance, football was far ahead in terms of popularity. Olympians were emerging from the state. It only helped matters that the footballers were even offered jobs by the Tatas and Mahindras in Mumbai. The popularity of the sport even prompted the development of sporting infrastructure. Stadiums were being built in the state for football, including in two of the most prominent cities - in Kochi and Calicut.

All this while Kerala remained a weak team in domestic cricket. Against the powerhouses like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad, they merely made up the numbers. Even when they caused an odd upset, it would change the dynamics for the stronger teams, rather than making a difference for the victors.

To make matters worse, barring State Bank of Travancore, cricketers didn't find employers in the state. While cricket was never going to be a profitable career avenue, many left the game after completing school. "Many children, right from school days were being prepared to go to the gulf and work." In all of this, cricket became a mere past-time.

The popularity of football stayed through the 1970s, but dipped in the following decade. "It was maybe because Kerala wasn't producing that many good players," believes Mahendra. Simultaneously, the rise of cricket following the 1983 World Cup win only helped matters. And a decade later, once money started coming into the game, cricket found coverage on national television and newspapers and thus started seeping into the social fabric of the state.

Sreesanth's legacy remains hanging in the state. He's popular, but not someone Kerala would flaunt as its role model. ©Getty

S Ramesh, Game Development Manager of KCA, proudly flaunts, "As per a survey done a few years ago, cricket is the preferred sport of 68% of the people in Kerala."

However, cricket may have battled and won the war internally, of being the most popular sport in the state, but Kerala remains far behind in India when it comes to their domestic performances or even producing players for the country. The reasons are many. And they aren't something KCA isn't aware of. The good thing is that they have taken creditable steps to find solutions. The unfortunate part, however, is that it hasn't yielded the desired results as yet.

One of the major reasons for players to not pursue cricket was the lack of job avenues. It still remains the biggest concern. "Bombay, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have corporates. We don't," Jayesh George, KCA secretary, points out. "After 23, you can't be asking his parents for Rs 500."

It is this fear that has kept a lot of parents from letting their children continue with the sport. "Our population, if you see, is more academic, compared to the north," Ramesh says. "Our parents, if they see, their child is not getting selected, they shut them from cricket. Either study, move to some other sport or go out. So retaining is difficult.

"Everybody can't play for the state, but to get those players we need that platform of competitions, so that there is a structure for people to emerge from that. That's the latest study we are doing and noticing that people after 16 are dropping out. Parents feel if their children are not getting selected for the state at that level, what's the point in wasting time?"

To help matters, Kerala Cricket Association, as a part of their Vision 2020, have started with CASH (Cricket Academy of Sports Hostel) Kerala Project, where children are picked up through trials in various remote areas of the state and given admission in sports hostel, wherein their education, sports, food and kits are all provided for free.

The project that had started almost a decade back has yielded results. Players graduated from district to zonal level, before eventually going on to play for the state. Today, almost half of Kerala's Ranji Trophy side is made of players from these academies.

Kerala became champions in the Under-16s, reached the elite in Under-19 and entered the semifinals twice in Under-23. Yet, their Ranji Trophy form results have much to improve. Mahendra points out at the poor club cricket structure of the state as the reason.

Taking note of the 14 first-class stadiums in the state, built using KCA's money, he says, "They have put so much money in building stadiums across the state. Enough stadiums are there now, it's time to invest money in building the club cricket structure."

But one of the major reasons for Kerala's inability to have a club structure is the fact that most of the top players of the state work in Chennai and play for the corporates in Tamil Nadu, due to lack of opportunities in the state.

Sanju Samson is popular, but has a lot to achieve before becoming a state-wide hero. ©BCCI

In such cases, it is tough for Kerala cricket to generate the right kind of quality and quantity of players to pursue the sport. They did manage to generate interest, which was their first goal. But what remains to be done now, is to be able to transfer that interest into something more substantial.

Jayesh points at another issue for Kerala's poor show in India's domestic tournament. "Our system is that we mostly play one-dayers. We play 30-over games here," he says. "We are very good in T20. We don't have many longer format tournaments. Players, thus, don't have the temperament. They will get off to starts, but they don't get big scores.

"When you see teams like Mumbai, when someone gets a start, they score centuries. We end up scoring around 320. That's our score. Now with Dav Whatmore as a coach and his experience, hopefully some professionalism will come in."

It is something that baffled Whatmore as well. "When I saw the players who were on the list, I was a little bit confused why this (team wasn't doing well) was the case, because they are good players."

For, as much as they can celebrate the legacy of the Pooja Knockout Tournament, which as per the official record dates back to 1951 and is believed to be the oldest one-day tournament in the world, their structure in long-form cricket has been quite poor.

Their 22-point agenda of Vision 2020 is primarily to make Kerala a powerhouse in Indian cricket - which means it should be a force to reckon with in domestic competitions, a few players should play for the country, there should be representation from the state in the form of umpires, coaches and trainers in the BCCI panel and the women's team should be strong, among other things. Beyond cricket, they are also trying to ensure the players become more confident personalities.

"The new set of youngsters that are there are not able to talk," Ramesh says. "You go to Punjab or Mumbai and see how the cricketers talk and behave. In the previous Under-23 match against Haryana, Sanjay Hazare, the umpire called me up and said that our opening batsman looked nervous even after scoring a century.

"We make them stand, talk, communicate. We have those classes. Apart from cricket, we concentrate on all those things. Our parents teach us to be very subdued and obedient. You need to be tough and street-smart," he says, calling out Sreesanth as an exception.

Among other things, Kerala has also lacked a figure to look up to. Tinu Yohanan, despite his popularity in the state, featured in only a limited number of internationals. Sanju Samson is popular, but has a lot to achieve before becoming a state-wide hero. Sreesanth's legacy remains hanging. He's popular, but not someone Kerala would flaunt as its role model.

Even the coming of IPL ended abruptly. Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru stadium is being primarily used as a football ground and the KCA is more than happy to make a shift to Thiruvananthapuram

"IPL and the other matches that were happening in Kochi, there were interference from the authorities and some outside elements, and the ticket sales were not up to the mark," Jayesh said. "Even the IPL team (Kochi Tuskers) wanted to change the venue. But as it turned out, they got into trouble from the BCCI.

It's been more than four years that international cricket has come to Kerala. Green Fields,India's 50th international venue, is sold out for the third T20I, its maiden match. In all of KCA's trial to get cricket kicking in, in the state and noticed outside, this comes as a momentous occasion.

© Cricbuzz

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