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PCA Stadium overcomes rat, termite attack
The curator at Mohali said that termites find their way into the stadium turf from nearby areas.
Before the India-Pakistan Test began at Mohali, the ground and pitch curators faced a unique problem — a rat and termite attack on its turf.
"Yes, we had the problem with the rats. But more than that there were lots of termites in the ground," Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium curator Daljit Singh said.
Daljit, a former Punjab wicket-keeper who once held the national first-class record for maximum victims, said that termites find their way into the stadium turf from nearby areas.
"They come from the colonies adjacent to the stadium and crawl under ground to reach the turf," he said, referring to the top quality Bermuda grass that was threatened for a while.
"We used Durban spray to control them," he disclosed.
The problem was eventually nipped in the bud and Daljit managed to prepare a beautiful outfield and pitch, which came in for praise from all present at the stadium.
Parthiv's birthday
The Indian dressing room would have reverberated with chants of "happy birthday" on Wednesday had Parthiv Patel been keeping wickets in the ongoing India-Pakistan Test.
But the Ahmedabad-based stumper, who turned 20 on Wednesday, is out of the Test and one-day teams and is likely to have celebrated his birthday with his family in the Gujarat city.
Parthiv's place has been taken by Tamil Nadu's Dinesh Karthik in the Test team while Mahender Singh Dhoni, also a hard-hitting batsman, is the man for the One-Day Internationals.
Rameez Raja in double role
Among the many VIP guests who have come from Pakistan to watch the Test are former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja and his wife.
Raja, a former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive, is also doing television commentary besides a special programme for an Indian news channel.
All this has been keeping him busy even in the evenings, which has left the former opening batsman with little time to enjoy his stay in Mohali.
"Because of this contract with the Indian channel, am busy in the evenings also. I would have preferred to have the evenings to myself," said the suave Raja, who took the winning catch when Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992 in Australia.
Rameez was the PCB CEO when India toured Pakistan in March-April last year for a historic, full-fledged series, the first in almost 15 years.
