National Games, local players for KKR: sports minister rolls out long wishlist

West Bengal may host its first-ever National Games within the ‘next one to two years,’ according to the minister of sports and youth affairs in the state's newly elected BJP government. It’s only one of a slew of promises Dr Indranil Khan made in his first major interaction with the local sports media in Kolkata on Tuesday.

From launching a sports university in the state, freeing sports governance of "corruption and nepotism", ensuring fair representation of Bengal cricketers in IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and providing the right ecosystem to produce home-bred athletes at the international level to staging the National Games — a tall order the new minister set for himself.

Interestingly, the new regime has already seen two sports ministers on the job since it took over in early May, with Nisith Pramanik being the first incumbent before Khan took over once the cabinet expanded.

‘’Hosting a National Games is on our radar within the next one or two years. The problem is a lot of the sporting infrastructure has been lying idle for several years now, while students’ hostels where athletes can stay are in a state of disrepair. We have started the inspection for work to begin on them in the coming months,’’ the minister said to a query.

Incidentally, the next edition of the bi-annual National Games is due to be held in Meghalaya in 2027, which means Bengal can be a contender only for 2029 and beyond. The National Games is an Olympic-style multi-sport event where athletes from various states and Union Territories compete. Steeped in history, the Games were first held in Lahore in undivided India in 1924 and were known as the Indian Olympic Games until 1938.

The event has seen some of India’s biggest sporting names — including Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu, Lovlina Borgohain, Sania Mirza and Manu Bhaker — take their first steps.

Meanwhile, an oft-repeated complaint of cricket fans in Bengal is that the Shah Rukh Khan-owned KKR has not had representation from the state since the IPL's formative years, when the likes of Wriddhiman Saha, Manoj Tiwary or Laxmi Ratan Shukla were part of the team. ‘’The franchise has Kolkata prefixed to it, but there is no representation from the state. We will definitely try to address this issue,’’ Dr Khan said.

However, it’s the prerogative of each franchise to bid from a pool of uncapped domestic talent in the IPL auction or through a scouting system — where not even a state body like the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has a role to play apart from hosting matches at Eden Gardens.

Coincidentally, the minister may have his hands full over a storm brewing in the CAB over the so-called ‘clean-up’ of the administration. In a letter to the minister dated 13 June, former CAB president Abhishek Dalmiya had asked for ‘meritocracy’ in team selection in various categories and alleged corrupt practices by a selection of officials and selectors.

There was understandable curiosity among local media on Wednesday, 17 June when CAB president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly and senior office-bearers visited the minister to present their defence of the charges against them.

‘’To generalize wrongdoing or cast sweeping assumptions over a majority of them (CAB officials) is a complete misrepresentation of facts and deeply disregards their earnest efforts and intent. No past president or secretary of the CAB has ever issued a public letter of this nature, and it has come as a great surprise to everyone within the association,’’ said a rejoinder letter signed by Ganguly and the office-bearers.