KXIP co-owner Ness Wadia proposes playing of national anthem before IPL games

Playing of national anthem before international games is not something new. But now, a proposal has been given to do the same before the start of matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Co-owner of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) Ness Wadia has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) earlier that the national anthem should be mandatorily played in the 20-over cricket extravaganza, even before former captain Sourav Ganguly took over the reins last month. He has also written to Ganguly over the same.

The national anthem is played in every game of the Indian Super League and Pro-Kabaddi League. Wadia has also welcomed the board’s decision of doing away with the opening ceremony of the cash-rich tournament which has been viewed as a wasteful affair.

‘Next step after scrapping opening ceremony is endorsing national anthem in IPL’

According to Wadia, the step next to scrapping the opening ceremony will be to endorse the idea of playing the national anthem ahead of an IPL game. “It is an excellent move. It is high time that we don’t have an opening ceremony. I have always wondered about the value and necessity of hosting an opening ceremony. One thing which they (BCCI) should do is to have the national anthem before each game given that it is the Indian Premier League,” Wadia said as quoted by Times Now.

“I had written to the BCCI earlier also and now I have written to Mr. Sourav Ganguly. And I think it is still played in movie theatres,” he added.

The businessman had earlier confirmed the exit of off-spinner Ravi Ashwin from the KXIP for the Delhi Capitals next season. Ashwin, who took over as the skipper of the KXIP only in 2018, failed to lead the franchise to the playoffs in any of the two seasons (2018 and 2019) but made the headlines for the wrong reasons this year, thanks to an act of ‘Mankading’.

The best result the KXIP has produced in the IPL was finishing as runners-up in 2014 when George Bailey’s side lost to Gautam Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders in the final.