Former BCCI president adds it’s impossible to alter the nature of a pitch overnight.
Circa 2004. The Board of Control for Cricket in India instructs the Vidarbha Cricket Association to prepare a brown top for a must-win Test against Australia. Instead, the VCA rolls out a green top. On the morning of the match, skipper Sourav Ganguly pulls out ‘owing’ to an injury.
The rest, as they say, is history. Australia, with a pace battery that includes Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz, humble India to record a historic series victory.
Now, for the present. India head for Kolkata in almost a similar predicament. The obvious question now is: Will the Cricket Association of Bengal roll out a green top for Team India?
Reports have already surfaced that the CAB has turned down a BCCI’s request to prepare a turner for the second Test.
All eyes, obviously, are on the pitch and on the moves of the CAB.
On Friday, the former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya was seen talking to India players at the Eden Gardens. The word immediately spread that the Indian players, including Harbhajan Singh, had a discussion over the likely nature of the wicket.
Dalmiya, however, denied they discussed the pitch. “Our discussion was held on the open field. It was not a closed door meeting. If anybody says we discussed about the pitch it is incorrect,” the CAB president told DNA.
He, however, refused to reveal much about the nature of the pitch which, as on Friday, was an ecologist’s dream. The grass layer has led to speculation that Eden strip will assist the South Africa attack consisting of tear-away pacers like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel than the spin-centric bowling of the hosts.
Dalmiya, however, was non-committal on whether the grass layer
will be removed by the Sunday, when the Test begins.
“We can’t turn a pitch into a turner overnight or a bouncy one. You know what happened in New Delhi. But Kolkata will not be a New Delhi,” Dalmiya said referring to recent incident in Delhi, where an ODI between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned midway.
Eden Gardens curator Probir Mukherjee said that although he received a call from the BCCI office in Mumbai requesting a spinner-friendly pitch, he refused to do so. His contention was that any attempt made to alter the nature of the wicket could render it under-prepared and the image of the CAB and Eden Gardens would be tarnished.
“Is there a definition for turner?” Mukherjee questioned. He claimed that that the present pitch at Eden will have even bounce and good carry. The spinners will start getting help as the day progresses, he said.
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