If there are two things that Andhra Pradesh people are crazy about, it would obviously be cinema and Cricket. This is perhaps the reason why the Telugu film industry is one of the best performing in the entire country.
Now there is this emphasis to push Andhra Pradesh on the Cricket front, and it is none other than Nara Lokesh, who is leading the charge.
Earlier, Lokesh was able to bring a significant number of IPL games to the Vizag International Stadium, and this was a celebration of the highest order. The return of IPL Cricket to Vizag was met with huge crowds and enthusiasm here.
Now there is a domestic push happening as the Mangalagiri Stadium hosted the final game of the Andhra Pradesh Premier League last night. This was an absolute jampacked affair with the 30,000 capacity stadium filling to the full capacity.
Having a strong sporting culture is always beneficial for any state, and we have observed this in Mumbai and Chennai in the past. So developing Andhra Pradesh as the supporting hub of India is a very good idea that is being implemented by Nara Lokesh.
However, the problem with this implementation is that the results generally take a lot of time as the infrastructure must be developed and only then will the results shape up. So it is perhaps a responsibility of Lokesh to make sure that he remains persistent with his efforts on this front.
If a strong sporting infrastructure and ecosystem is developed in Andhra Pradesh, it could add a bit additional impetus to the state’s progress. Alas, we already have two main representatives of AP cricket at international level in the form of Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy. We could be witnessing more such success stories in the future.
