Battle raging over IPL venue - Kochi

KOCHI: Uncertainties and controversies seem to go hand in hand with the Kochi IPL team, christened Indi Commandos Kerala.

The latest twist in the long-drawn out melodrama, having the ‘potential’ to turn into a farce, is the revelation that the franchise owners — Kochi Cricket Private Ltd — have written to the IPL Governing Council requesting to consider moving the franchise’s home ground to Ahmedabad.

The reasons cited are the uncertainties over the construction of the Kerala Cricket Association’s new stadium at Edakochi, the inadequate facilities at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium and the high entertainment tax of 36 percent being levied in the state.

However, sources close to the Indi Commandos told ‘expresso’ that the franchise owners were only demanding a permanent venue for the team, and they were not against playing in Kochi. “The investments for setting up the facilities required to give fans a great IPL experience would come to around `12 crore this edition. If they have to move to another venue in the subsequent editions, the franchise will have to shell out a similar, if not more, amount at the new venue,” sources said.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Cricket Association is fully confident that the matches will take place in Kochi itself, more so with the Board of Control for Cricket in India having released the provisional schedule for the fourth edition of the IPL slated to be held from April 8 to May 28.

“We have taken the Nehru Stadium on a lease of five years keeping the IPL

in mind and the response from the BCCI has been in favour of Kochi hosting

the Indi Commandos’ home matches,” KCA secretary T C Mathew told ‘expresso’. “The KCA, Kerala and Kochi are fully prepared to host the IPL matches according to the requirements of IPL. We are going ahead with our preparations to turn the Nehru Stadium into a top class venue.” However, the mere fact that the franchise, with not all partners favouring such a move, went so far as to write to the governing council requesting a venue change brings out the extent of differences still prevailing in the consortium of five entities that just about survived the BCCI axe after messing up with their shareholding pattern.  According to the schedule, five of Indi Commandos’ home matches have been allotted to Kochi while two have been given to Indore.

“The basic concern of the Kochi partners is the high entertainment tax in Kerala. We have assured them that the matter is being taken up with the state government,” Mathew said.

Igniting hopes, the KCA on Thursday received an official communique from the IPL Governing Council asking them to furnish details of the arrangements being made and the personnel being deployed for the smooth conduct of the matches. It is also learnt that the franchise’s only Malayali representative, Vivek Venugopal, has taken a strong stance that the team won in the name of Kochi cannot be taken to another place citing unavailability of a stadium.

While it was clear, right from the time a consortium of investors bid successfully for `1533.33 crore, that partners based in Gujarat wanted the new team to play in Ahmedabad, the franchise had taken a public stand that Kochi would be retained as their home ground if a proper venue was available