Anil Kumble

Yes, you guessed it correctly! Now, Jumbo and his great friend Srinath want to be leaders. And, they have won the election on their debut itself! Anil Kumble the maverick retired Indian leg-spinner and Ex-India team Captain has won a seat to be the president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. Srinath joins in as the secretary at the same time. And, Venkatesh Prasad has claimed one of the three vice-president posts. The group formed a few weeks ago and claimed 22 seats of the 24 up for grabs.

The other two vice-president seats were filled in by the former Indian seamer  Roger Binny and Banglore industrialist Sadanand Mayya. The elections were held in the Chinnaswamy statidum in Banglore on Sunday. Kumble’s win was previously itself well known. “Our idea is to make the KSCA a model association,” he said. “The challenge is to ensure that we deliver. We’d like to include all the members’ inputs.”

Binny who is a World Cup 1983 winner said “It’s a victory that will change the perception of sportsmen entering sports administration. Personally for me, this is one of the sweetest victories in an election.” He said cricket would be a priority, with the main goal being “to improve the standard of cricket in Karnataka and develop a great infrastructure at the grassroots level.”

These three men are not new to the field. They all have held administrative posts with the ICC or BCCI. Srinath has been a match referee since 2006, Kumble is the chairman of the National Cricket Academy since September and Prasad is currently is the bowling coach of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Prasad has also been the bowling coach of India-U19 team and the Karnataka team. He also was the bowling coach for the National side for two years.

Prasad is now on an assignment with the Asian Cricket Council to promote and develop the game in the countries that do not have a cricket playing tradition. Earlier, he has also completed a management degree from the ACC.

Tags: Anil Kumble, Banglore, Chinnaswamy Statidum, Cricket, Indian Sports, Javagal Srinath, Jumbo, Karnataka State Cricket Association, KSCA, Sports, Sports India, Venkatesh Prasad