Kanpur pitch plays true after Mumbai fiasco

Nov 21, 2004 12:44 IST

After the Mumbai fiasco, the Green Park Stadium pitch here played true and but for two unlucky dismissals, South Africa would have posted a higher score on the opening day of the first cricket Test Saturday.

The fourth Test against Australia at Mumbai ended in just a little over two days, with India winning the thriller by 13 runs to save face in a series the home side lost 1-2. It was the first time in almost 35 years that Australia had won a Test series in India.

After all-round criticism of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its Ground and Wicket Committee (GWC) for providing an under prepared pitch to suit home spinners, the curators and GWC apparently took extra care not to repeat the act at Kanpur.

It (pitch preparation) is an ongoing process, it’s still evolving, GWC chief Venkat Sundaram, who is here for the Test, told IANS.

He made the comment when asked who was actually responsible for preparing pitches - the local curators or the WGC.

Sundaram was not too willing to enter into a discussion on the sensitive issue, but did say GWC members cannot supervise the entire process of pitch preparation around the country.

We cannot oversee the (entire) preparation, pointed out the former Delhi player.

The GWC, formed in the late 1990s and which the legendary Kapil Dev once headed, has always been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

G. Kasturirangan, from whom Sundaram took over, had resigned because he was not happy with the attitude of the Indian cricket board bosses as his inputs were not taken seriously and were not acted upon.

On the other hand, in South Africa for instance, there is no central committee to oversee pitch preparation and local curators are wholly responsible for the job.

There is no such pitches committee of the UCBSA (United Cricket Board of South Africa) and the pitch preparation is the job of local curators, South African media manager Gerald de Kock told IANS.

The idea is to make pitches that last five days of a Test, provide good cricket and bring in good income through spectators, he said.

It remains to be seen what action new board president Ranbir Singh Mahendra would take on this crucial but neglected aspect of the game in India.

--Indo-Asian News Service

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