The top cricket stadium in Malaysia, where some of the greatest games of cricket were played, may have to be abandoned after a property developer decided to turf out the sport’s local governing body, an official of Malaysia Cricket said Monday. The Kinrara Oval, which was built in 2003 and has hosted one-day internationals featuring India, Australia, and the West Indies, and Under-19 World Cup matches, sits on one of the prime locations of the west of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
However, the Malaysian Cricket Association’s lease has expired and they have been told to leave by the end of the month to make way for a new development, according to the group’s secretary Mohammed Iqbal Ali Kassim Ali. As quoted in AFP, he said, “It will be a sad day if we lose the Kinrara Oval. It is a world-class, iconic pitch. We want the ground to remain the home of Malaysian cricket.”
It is the same venue where the legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored a scintillating unbeaten 141 against the West Indies in an ODI in September 2006. Even. the Indian skipper Virat Kohli lifted the u-19 World Cup in 2008 at the same venue. The association has mounted a campaign to try to save the ground, and the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the weekend threw its weight behind the effort.
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Regarding the same, ICC CEO, David Richardson said, “Cricket in Malaysia is flourishing with the number of players in all age groups growing… and we are hopeful a sustainable solution can be found. The ICC will continue to support Malaysia Cricket and hopes the Kinrara Oval will remain an international cricket venue.”
The Pakistan women’s team are currently playing Australia’s women in a one-day international series at the stadium. It is not clear what the property company that owns the land plans to build on the site, which is surrounded by residential apartments nearby.
ICC expresses concern over future of cricket facility in Malaysia https://t.co/uTcIaFd6jQ via @icc
— ICC Media (@ICCMediaComms) October 21, 2018
The cricket association met with the sports minister last week in order to make their case much better and Iqbal said he has also written to Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. He said, “We have been engaging with the developer for a long, long time. We had hoped it could be resolved behind closed doors.”
In recent times, cricket has shown immense improvement in Malaysia, still, it remains less popular than other sports, such as badminton and football.
