Kerala Blasters’ midfielder CK Vineeth’s ongoing effort on social media to save the world-class football turf of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi has gained momentum. After Thiruvananthapuram’s Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor jumped into the conversation on Monday, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar also came out in support of saving Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Tuesday and asked Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) to come up with a different venue for a cricket match.
The story so far is that the KCA has been awarded by BCCI tours and fixtures committee to host one ODI between India and West Indies which is to be held in November this year. Several reports have suggested that KCA has been pondering upon the idea of hosting the match at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium instead of Thiruvananthapuram’s Greenfield International Stadium. The stadium at Kochi is home ground for the Indian Super League football team Kerala Blasters and is also one of the surfaces which have been used for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. If KCA plans to schedule the match at Kochi then the whole FIFA approved international football turf has to be dug out to lay down the cricket pitch.
“Worried about the potential damage to the FIFA approved World class Football turf in Kochi. Urge the KCA to take the right decision where cricket (Thiruvananthapuram) and Football (Kochi) can happily coexist,” Sachin Tweeted.
