Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has allayed worries that the September 28 Thiruvananthapuram T20I between South Africa and India is in jeopardy. On Wednesday, Krishna Prasad, the KCA secretary, told Cricbuzz that there was no disturbance and that the match would proceed as planned. Due to unpaid electrical bills that can total up to Rs 2.5 crore, the KSEB cut off the Greenfield Stadium’s access to electricity. Kerala Sports Facility Ltd (KSFL), the company that owns the Greenfield Stadium, has actually fallen behind on payments.
After the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) decided to cut off the power supply to the Greenfield Stadium, the game’s location, doubts were raised regarding the Twenty20 International.
“Power or not, the match will be held with the help of generators anyway. That is the way for any international game, because a game cannot depend on the uninterrupted power supply from the state boards across states. We need power before the game and for maintenance and for that we have initiated back-up measures. The generators will be pressed into service,” said the KCA official. “We want the match to happen and it will happen.”
“There is a theatre and an auditorium which has consumed power and that bill is pending and we are not concerned with that. Why should we pay for others’ consumption,” Krishna Prasad said.
The first of the three Twenty20 Internationals between India and South Africa will be played in Thiruvananthapuram, with the other two taking place in Guwahati and Indore on October 2 and 4, respectively. Three ODIs are played on October 6, 9, and 11 at Lucknow, Ranchi, and Delhi as a follow-up to the T20Is.
