The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : A lot at stake for the CCI

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A lot at stake for the CCI

Mumbai: About 7,000 members of the Cricket Club of India are lobbying hard to realise their wish of hosting the DLF-IPL season II matches at the Brabourne Stadium.

Franchise owner Reliance Industries is keen that the historical landmark at the Dinshaw Vaccha Road, Churchgate, becomes Mumbai Indians’s home ground.

The club’s executive committee has convened an Extraordinary General Meeting on February 27 to pass a resolution that would clear the path for Mukesh Ambani to make Brabourne the venue for at least the seven home matches.

Should the resolution be passed, the members will lose certain rights on match days of important BCCI promoted tournaments.

The coming days will test the theory that enthusiasm for cricket has dwindled owing to the changing membership profile at the club — which is headed by a non-cricketer for the first time in three decades.

In his notice to the members, Kamaljeet Rajpal says: “The members would appreciate that the holding of such matches would enhance the prestige and reputation of the club, nationally and internationally, and the resolution is recommended for acceptance by the members.”

Brabourne hosted the last of its 17 Tests in 1973 when Tony Lewis’s England played Ajit Wadekar’s India. Former club president Raj Singh Dungarpur’s dream of seeing another Test match at the venue was shattered following the terror attack in Mumbai on November 26 last year — the Platinum Jubilee Test at the Brabourne became a non-starter.

The EGM on February 27 will decide whether the CCI, a full member of the BCCI, continues to remain a cricketing institution.

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