Kerala Cricket Association wary of the delay in coaching camps for the upcoming season due to floods

Cricket in Kerala has always been on a thin ridge, where a small wrong step can perish the association. This time the threat is again in the form of natural calamity alike last year.

Kerala is facing one of the worst floods in the history of the state. Over 1 lakh people were moved to relief camps and the death toll increases to 42. The cricketing honchos in the state are doing a painstaking job to make sure the upcoming season is not affected by the natural calamity.

The north Kerala districts — Wayanad, Krishnagiri, Mallapuram and Kozhikode — are the most flood-ridden parts of the state. Considering the amount of disaster, the selection process for the state level players was happening to the Wayanad players came to standstill. The bigger picture is given by Ranjit Thomas, General Manager of Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) when in conversation with CricTracker.

“The flood in the Wayanad and Krishnagiri hasn’t effected much but only the fencing of the stadiums were broken due to huge downpour and abundance of water flow. We are working on the fencings, else no much damage was done,” said Ranjit.

Shift in venue due to the grounds in Wayanad are inundated in rain

The association is on the double-edged sword, as they are still due to conduct U-16 state-level selection but the completion of senior state cricketers selection process makes them happy. “The venues for the selection process matches have been shifted to Trivandrum as we feel south Kerala is safe now. The Wayanad and Krishnagiri players should travel down south to continue their selection process.,” the KCA General Manager added. “There are no much logistics issues.”

With the big tournaments lined-up, a strong reason to worry for the state association is coaching camps for the upcoming season are delayed due to grounds being inundated by the heavy downpour. “The coaching camps across all categories were scheduled to start. But, due to heavy rains in various parts of the state, the camps were halted and a few players were moved to relief camps as well,” added Ranjit.

The domestic season starts with Duleep Trophy from August 17. “The Duleep players from Kerala have been practising, in Chennai. But for the upcoming tournaments like Vijay Hazare Trophy, Deodar Trophy, we are yet to figure way out for players to basic cricketing facilities due to floods,” the General manager concluded.

Cricketers like Irfan Pathan, Krunal Pandya are giving a helping hand. Earlier this month, Yusuf Pathan has helped people by distributing food for the flood victims in Vadodara. This is nothing new to the Pathan brothers, last year also they have helped people in Kerala who were victimised by the flood. On Friday, Irfan tweeted on his handle the helplines in Kerala and he wanted the government to take some measures before the calamity hits denizens.

Here are the tweets:

Every year in monsoon we react after the floods.winter and summer has similar issues.Every life is important.Can each state Government do something about these disasters which occur every year? Can we all citizens do something about it ?

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) August 9, 2019

Also, Krunal Pandya prays for people safety on Twitter

Horrifying visuals of floods all over the country. Praying for the people affected by the rains. Please stay safe 🙏 #MaharashtraFloods #KeralaFloods #KarnatakaFloods

— Krunal Pandya (@krunalpandya24) August 9, 2019

Kerala’s last year run riot to the Ranji Trophy semifinals was one of the most iconic winning run by the state and they are hoping to hit the deck much earlier this season to make it another remarkable season. But, for that again the association needs to work towards the patch up for the damage done by the floods.