The curator of the YS Rajasekhara ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here, K Nagamallaiah did not water the ground on Thursday. As dark clouds loomed, he knew that nature would take care of it.
And it did. It drizzled steadily for an hour or so in the evening. "In fact, I knew that it would rain today (Thursday) and hence I did not water the outfield," he said. He said he relies on 'accuweather' website for weather forecasts and that it has not failed him at all. "Though, the water that we use to sprinkle the outfield is more than what the drizzle did," he said.
Even if it rained heavily, Nagamallaiah wouldn't lose sleep over it. "We have adequate covers to cover the entire ground. We have a good staff to man the ground," he said.
What makes Vizag stadium one of its kind with the best drainage system? "We have an underground drainage system which is sand-based. The sub-soil drainage for the outfield ensures that the rain water is soaked eight inches beneath the surface and mixes with the sand on way to the main drainage. Thus, it dries immediately," said Nagamallaiah, who maintains all the grounds of Andhra Cricket Association and there are about 20 of them.
Such is the system here that he recalled an ODI in November 2013 when West Indies played here. "The match was on 24th and it started to rain heavily on 20th for three days. But on the day of the match, with adequate sunshine, the match started on time. Commentators, who said on air during the previous game in Kochi that the Visakhapatnam match would be a non-starter, were stunned at the Vizag ground being ready," said Nagamallaiah.
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In another instance, Nagamallaiah said that it rained continuously overnight and stopped before sunrise, allowing a 9am Deodhar Trophy match to start on time. However, he was helpless when Hudhud cyclone led to abandonment of an ODI in 2014 and a T20I in 2012.
"Even during Hudhud, nothing happened to the ground but everything around was damaged. As for the T20I, it started raining from 6pm on the match day and continued till the extended one hour of the match," he said.
The lush green outfield at this venue is one to be admired and received appreciation from all concerned including Ravi Shastri when he saw the pitch for IPL's first game here last Sunday.
"Normally, when you cover the ground, the grass becomes yellowish. But not here. We use herbal liquefied fertilizer and time its use in such a manner that the grass is alive and green when it stops raining. The timing is important," said Nagamallaiah, who has preparing pitches since 1995, starting with SPIC ground in Chennai before moving to Anantapur and then to Vizag in 2007.
And, Nagamallaiah is credited with preparing sporting pitches on which all departments of the game come into equal use.
