When teams from KLES College and Seshadripuram First Grade College-Yelahanka arrived at the Central College ground here on Monday to fight it out in the ongoing inter-collegiate cricket championship, little did they know that they would have to clean the ground before playing. Cleaning became necessary as the ground was littered with plastic and other waste.
The 20-over match that was to begin at 7.30 a.m. began two hours late with reduced overs.
Munireddy R, Director, Directorate of Physical Education, Bangalore University (BU), said: “The matches that began on January 22 will go on till March 12. Students cleaned the ground on Monday as another match was scheduled for 12.30 p.m. They cleaned the playing area and a truckload of waste was collected.”
On the stand taken by the Police Department, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) West, B. Girish said: “Organisers of the convention on Sunday claimed to have taken permission from BU to park the vehicles. That’s why we allowed them. If the varsity files a complaint, we will take action.”
“This is the only playground that BU is left with. Way back in 2004, the BU Syndicate had decided not to rent out the ground for non-sporting purposes,” added Mr. Munireddy.
Cricket statistician H.R. Gopala Krishna recalled that the Central College ground witnessed many greats such as F.M. Alexander, C.C. Hunte, G.S. Sobers, C.C. Grifftih, L.A. King (West Indians), Ian Chappell, W.M. Lawry, K.D. Walters, Redpath, A.N. Connolly (Australians), and E.A.S. Prasanna, B.S. Chandrashekhar, V. Subramanya, G.R. Vishwanath, Ajit Wadekar, Salim Durani, Lala Amaranath and many others.
