The enduring charm of the Bangalore Derby

  

KSCA Polls: One Team Brings Experience; the Other Promises to Figure It Out Later

 

By Sharan Kumar

 

The elections to the Karnataka State Cricket Association are heating up, think of it as an IPL auction where one side knows what they’re doing and the other is still googling “how to build a team.” On one side, we have the Brijesh Patel–backed brigade, fielding K. N. Shanth Kumar for President, a man whose résumé doesn’t just speak;  it practically waves its credentials.

 

Shanth Kumar hails from a family that didn’t just promote sport, they carried it on their backs when sponsorship was harder to find than a Bangalore pitch offering bounce. His father K N Nettakallapa personally funded events when raising money for sport was equivalent to winning a Test in Hobart with one wicket in hand. Add to that the Deccan Herald's legacy of championing sport, and you know the pedigree is real, not manufactured for campaign time.

 

And then there’s Shanth Kumar’s own track record: President of the Karnataka Olympic Association, veteran of eight Olympic Games (as a photographer with a front-row seat to sporting excellence), coverage of Test Matches, and Chairman of PTI, the country’s largest news network. A calm, competent, controversy-proof administrator. In short, the kind of man you actually want running an association in crisis, not someone learning the ropes on the job.

 

The fashionable argument that only former cricketers should run associations? A charming fairytale. Indian cricket was built by administrators like Chinnaswamy, people who quietly did the hard work while cricketers chased glory, endorsements, and occasionally greener pastures in other states. Experience, not cover drives, runs the KSCA.

 

Venkatesh Prasad, contesting against Shanth Kumar, is an admirable former Test bowler, no doubt. But his biggest handicap? During his last stint as Vice President, he was simultaneously coaching a team in the North. A bit difficult to run Karnataka cricket with one foot in Gurgaon, isn’t it?

 

And the saddest twist in this election saga? The opposing camp has decided the best way to win votes is by attacking the KSCA itself; lecturing about the tragic stampede during the RCB victory celebrations, as though the association manufactured the crowd with a photocopier. It was an unprecedented situation, a multi-agency failure, and reducing it to an election slogan is not merely unfair, it’s irresponsible. Especially when the same group hopes to lead the very institution they’re running down.

If elected, they might even alienate RCB’s owners who’ve been gracious enough to let the association retain its own members’ stand during IPL matches. Because who needs allies when you have election rhetoric?

 

Now, let’s address the “cricketing experience” claim the opposition loves to chant. Ironically, their own team is a little thin on cricketers for key positions. Their secretary candidate, Santosh Menon, isn’t exactly a legend of the sport, unless we missed a Test series somewhere. He was once part of Brijesh Patel’s camp, and now has nine days left to complete nine years in office, making him a walking countdown timer under the Lodha recommendations.

 

Shashidhar, contesting for Joint Secretary, helms City Cricketers, a club that once produced legends like Prasanna and Chandrashekhar. Today, that same club is languishing at the bottom of the league table. If transforming a powerhouse club into wooden-spoon territory is a campaign credential, then truly the bar has been set subterranean. Also, per Lodha rules, he can hold office for 45 days, a glorious one-and-a-half months of “fresh ideas.”

 

Meanwhile, capable former cricketers like Sujith Somasundar and Avinash Vaidya have chosen to contest for ornamental roles rather than the hard-labour positions of Secretary and Joint Secretary. Because, let’s face it, running the league and administration means actual work, something beyond nostalgic speeches about their playing days.

 

The Brijesh Patel team has run the KSCA for years and delivered results, buying land, expanding facilities, and building infrastructure across the state. Now, at a time when the Chinnaswamy Stadium has been declared unsafe and cricket activities are suspended, the association needs experienced hands who know how to navigate bureaucratic minefields, negotiate with the government, and get the game back on track. These tasks require administrative intelligence, not a good yorker.

 

This is precisely why the Shanth Kumar-led team ticks every box.

 

The Venkatesh Prasad grouping, on the other hand, seems hurriedly assembled, more like a last-minute net session than a strategic lineup. Several of its members, like Vinay Mrithinjaya and Santosh Menon, were part of earlier dispensations. The promise of “new leadership” looks suspiciously like old files in new folders.

 

One must sympathize with Prasad, he has the sincerity but not the squad. One man cannot run the KSCA unless he has a dedicated, passionate team behind him. And here, the imbalance shows.

In these turbulent times, Karnataka cricket doesn’t need experiments. It needs experience. And on that front, the Brijesh Patel–backed Shanth Kumar team is the only side that looks ready to play the long innings.