Lucknow, May 24(FN Agency) Former Uttar Pradesh Minister and also a one-time state Ranji player Mohsin Raza has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to quadruple the representation of Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. In a letter to BCCI secretary here on Tuesday, Mohsin, a BJP member of the state legislative council, compared his state with the largest population in the country with Goa and Tripura which are better represented in population percentage; and also with Maharashtra and Gujarat who have three teams from their states. Raza said in his letter: ” I take this opportunity to congratulate the BCCI for designing and operating a robust domestic cricket infrastructure, which has brought in great talent to represent the nation at the top level. “Being a former first class cricketer, I would like to draw your esteemed organization to note one important aspect which will further improve this platform of development and provide tremendous benefits to the sporting power of cricket of our country.
“I belong to Uttar Pradesh which is the most populous state of India and the largest subdivision in the world. The population of our state is more than 25 crores. This means that one-sixth of the total population of India lives in Uttar Pradesh. “However, we have only one cricket team representing the state of Uttar Pradesh. Being a former cricketer, I understand the struggle these young aspiring cricketers from the state go through while competing for those rare 15 spots in the team. ” The talent of Uttar Pradesh, a densely populated state of 25 crores, the competition for these 15 places is highly unfair, resulting in suffocation of talent and compromising on the promising careers of those who have never lost their talent at the national and state level. Don’t get a chance to show up.
“In this context, I would like to bring to your attention that states like Goa with a population of about 15 lakh and Tripura with a population of about 42.4 lakh have their own teams, which provide tremendous opportunities to the budding talents in this field. “On the other hand of cricket in their state, Maharashtra and Gujarat have three teams each representing them respectively. I honestly feel that Uttar Pradesh also deserves a fairly high representation, considering the fact that it is the most populous state in India. “Maharashtra, for example, has contributed phenomenally to Indian cricketing talent as it has three teams that represent it, providing both permission and opportunity to aspiring players. I am confident that if we provide similar opportunities to the talents of Uttar Pradesh, our state will also produce many talented star cricketers for the nation.
“I am writing this letter to you on behalf of the people of Uttar Pradesh i.e. one-sixth of the population of India and look forward to your support in encouraging and giving equal opportunities to the young talents of our state”. “I request you to consider the fact that there should be more than one cricket team in the state of Uttar Pradesh and it could be four,, so that no talent is left without an opportunity which will further the strength of cricket of our country.”