Dharamshala: The IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab has come up with a unique request to BCCI . They don’t want to play at their traditional home base of Mohali. Instead, they have told the Indian cricket board that they would rather play at Dharamshala .The team Kings seeking a change in home ground from Mohali to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh on security grounds ,trouble with local authorities and the low turnout of the spectators in Mohali . Dharamshala remains to be the second home ground of the team since the start of IPL.
The team has officially requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar. Sources in the BCCI inform that they are yet to take any decision on this issue.
“One reason for Kings XI moving away from Mohali is because they are having difficult times with local authorities. Also, the turnout for the IPL has been disappointing. Not too many people turn up. Whereas venue like Dharamshala has been good for them. They (Kings XI) have requested us and the board will decide later what needs to be done in this regard,” a top BCCI official confirmed it today.
However, the board isn’t going to commit anything to Kings XI for now.
“We can’t commit anything now. What if any of the two new teams which included today in IPL, choose Dharamsala as their venue? We will wait and see. IPL teams do have a choice to choose alternate venue.,” the official added.
Kings XI have played some of their IPL games in Dharmshala in the past seasons but the decision to shift totally from Mohali has come as surprise. A
Reacting to the KXIP fears on the Punjab situation, Congress’ state chief Amarinder Singh expressed grave concern over the fears expressed by the Kings XI cricket team about the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab.
“It would be absolutely wrong to summarily dismiss their (KXIP) concerns as exaggerated since an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty was created in the state deliberately during last few months,” Amarinder said in a statement .
Lashing out at Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal for the state’s situation, he said that instead of staging sate sponsored rallies, they should take measures to restore the people’s confidence.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
