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Flying in BCCI curators to Rajkot humiliating for local groundstaff: Niranjan Shah
Shah feels moves like these lead to mishaps similar to the India-Australia match at Pune in 2017 when the ICC rated the wicket ‘poor’.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to fly in board curators Daljit Singh and Vishwajit Padiyar for the preparation of the wicket for the first Test between India and West Indies in Rajkot hasn’t gone down well with former Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) secretary Niranjan Shah. A former BCCI secretary himself, Shah said that the move comes across as a case of the board not having faith on the local curators in the SCA. While he did not confirm if the move was aimed to produce a bouncy wicket as the Indian team looks to prepare for the tour of Australia after the Windies series, he did say that a wrong precedent was being set.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Shah said that while it was understandable that BCCI curators are sent for domestic games so that local associations don’t tinker with the wicket, the idea of sending in curators ahead of international games is anything but humiliating for the local groundstaff.
“This is 100 per cent humiliating for the local curator and groundstaff. Are you trying to say that the local staff isn’t capable enough to prepare wickets for the game? We have hosted games over the years and I don’t think there have been any cases of bad reports coming in. Are you telling me that tomorrow the wicket at Wankhede Stadium will be prepared by BCCI curators and not the local curators at the MCA? This is a very wrong precedent that is being set.
“We do realise the motive behind sending board appointed curators for domestic games as there is a chance that the host association might want to create a wicket that is tilted in favour of the home team. But no association would do that for an international game. Every state association knows what is expected of them when it comes to an international game,” he explained.
Shah also pointed to the pitch fiasco that engulfed Pune during the India-Australia series when the ICC rated the wicket ‘poor’ in its report in 2017 after 24 wickets fell in the first two days of the game.
“The Maharashtra Cricket Association and local curator Pandurang Salgaoncar faced the heat after the pitch was rated ‘poor’ by the ICC. But the fault didn’t lie with the local curator. This is the problem when you ignore the knowledge of the locals. The local groundstaff know the conditions much better than someone being flown in 6 or 7 days before the game,” he said.
Speaking after the mishap, curator Salgaoncar made it clear that he had time and again warned the BCCI pitch committee head Daljit Singh and West Zone head Dhiraj Parsana — both present to oversee preparation of the wicket in Pune — against preparing a bald and dry pitch.
“I had clearly warned the BCCI against preparing a bald and dry pitch. I don’t want to take names, but I had told them that not watering the pitch and removing the grass cover could have a detrimental effect. I know deep within that I had tried my best to make them understand,” he revealed.
