Batting legend and Indian Super League football club Kerala Blasters co-owner Sachin Tendulkar has joined a campaign to stop the Indian cricket board from hosting an ODI in Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Kerala Blasters play at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, which is one of the few FIFA approved football turfs in India. However, the Kerala Cricket Association is looking to host the India-West Indies ODI in November in Kochi, which will need the field to be dug up for a cricket pitch, despite having a brand new cricket stadium nearby in Trivandrum.
Tendulkar gave his support to the campaign #SaveKochiTurf, asking the Kerala cricket body to hold the match at The Sports Hub Stadium in Trivandrum.
“Worried about the potential damage to the FIFA approved world class football turf in Kochi. Urge the KCA to take the right decision where cricket (Thiruvananthapuram) and football (Kochi) can happily coexist,” Sachin stated in a tweet.
Worried about the potential damage to the FIFA approved World class Football turf in Kochi. Urge the KCA to take the right decision where cricket (Thiruvananthapuram) and Football (Kochi) can happily coexist. pic.twitter.com/rs5eZmhFDP
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 20, 2018
In another tweet, Sachin urged BCCI chief administrator Vindo Rai to look into the matter.
“Urged Vinod Rai who has promised to look into the matter. Hoping that neither the cricket nor the football fans are disappointed,” Sachin tweeted.
His tweets followed a major social media campaign by football players and supporters in India who are worried about the potential damage to a pristine football venue.
“We football fans in India have small joys and reasons to be happy about. A proper football pitch is one of them. Let’s not snatch that away, even if it’s for a little while,” national football team captain Sunil Chhetri tweeted.
The issue gained momentum after former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor called the move ‘suspect’.
Tharoor, who represents Trivandrum in the Parliament, said he has already spoken to Vinod Rai about KCA’s “bizarre” move to hold the match in Kochi, which was one of the venues for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
