Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad, backed by his ex-India teammates Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, on Tuesday (November 11), announced that he would contest for the president’s post in this month’s Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) election.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru to unveil his team of contestants, Prasad hit out at former India batter and ex-KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel for “controlling” the association for 25 years. Prasad promised to bring a change to the association with his squad of “Team Game Changers”.

Somasundar for V-P

Sujith Somasundar, who played for India in ODIs, will contest for the vice-president’s position. He has quit from the post of the education head at the BCCI Centre of Excellence to contest.

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“My answer is very simple — the purpose was bigger for me. That’s why it drove me here. I know I have spent a lot of years at the COE, trying to shape and develop the coaches and also help the Indian cricket education.

“But somewhere deep down, I could see that our own cricket ecosystem back home was losing its direction. It’s not about position or power. I think, like I said, it’s about restoring pride,” said Somasundar.

Also in the fray are Vinay Mruthyunjaya for secretary, AV Shashidhar for joint secretary, and BN Madhukar for treasurer.

What Kumble said

Former India captain Kumble, who was also present at the event, said there was a need for a change in KSCA and restore its past glory and backed Prasad and his team to do it.

Srinath, a former KSCA secretary, too supported Prasad and was confident of his team’s win the November 30 election at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Hitting out at the current KSCA office-bearers, Prasad said they were being “remoted-controlled” by Patel. If his team is elected, Prasad promised it would be “real control” and not “remote control”.

He also questioned why the opposition team contesting the KSCA election was named “Team Brijesh Patel” and not in the name of Deccan Herald newspaper’s KN Shanth Kumar (Director, The Printers (Mysore) Limited), who will contest against Prasad for the president’s position.

‘Backseat syndrome’

Prasad said KSCA was suffering from “backseat syndrome” as Patel was controlling the affairs of the association from the backseat. He said the current office-bearers were “puppets” in Patel’s hands.

“That is when I was the vice-president, Anil Kumble was the president and Javagal Srinath was the secretary. Those are the only three years we never allowed anybody to take control or to drive this association from behind — the backseat driving syndrome.

“We didn’t allow that to happen. And that’s when cricket flourished, cricket infrastructure flourished. Now, it pains me to see the infrastructure, especially at the mofussil centres. We need to change it, and that will be our effort,” said Prasad.

Kumble, who has previously served as KSCA president, said Karnataka cricket is suffering.

“The reason we are here is because we felt that Karnataka cricket is suffering and one of the reasons why we are here is to make a difference and that was one of the reasons why we got into administration 15 years ago as well.

“Now, it seems like whatever happened in those three years, everything has been undone and right throughout the time that we were away from the association,” said Kumble.

Kumble also spoke on the stampede that happened on June 4 during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL 2025 victory celebrations.

“June 4th (stampede near M Chinnaswamy Stadium during RCB victory celebrations) was a black mark for all of us. We certainly feel very hurt and we are all with the families of the lives that were lost. That cannot be undone.

“But I think what can certainly be done is to again retain the glory of Karnataka cricket. Karnataka is, in terms of Ranji Trophies, we are only second to Mumbai and that glory has been lost over the years,” he said.

Srinath slams Patel

Srinath lauded Prasad and slammed Patel for “backseat driving”.

“I think one of the words he (Prasad) has coined is brilliant. Backseat syndrome, that has to stop. When this KSCA has some dignity and respect, you don’t need backseat driving.

“One of the points which Venky made and which we were able to achieve in around three years, we built 13 grounds.

“Look, when one group hands over the responsibility to the other, you need to add more infrastructure, you need to add more games and give opportunity to more kids. That is what this association stands for,” said Srinath.

In addition to the core office bearers, Prasad’s team also announced its Institutional, Life, and Zonal Members across Karnataka.

Institutional Members (Bengaluru)

• Avinash Vaidya

• Kalpana Venkatachar

• Ashish Amarlall

Zonal Members

• Mysore – Srinivas Prasad

• Raichur – Parthasarathy Kanakavidu

• Tumkur – Harish CR

• Mangalore – Dr. Srikanth Rai

• Shivamogga – Nagendra Pandit

• Dharwad – Ahmed Raza Kittur

Bengaluru Life Members

• BM Manjunath

• Sailesh Poll