By Jaideep Sarin, IANS
Mohali : Playing on dusty tracks like the one that India and Pakistan found at Guwahati Monday could be a thing of the past with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asking state units to have dedicated stadiums and quality pitches in two years if they wanted to host international matches in the future.
The BCCI has set 2009 end as the deadline for states to get their act together if they want to be even considered as hosts for future international fixtures.
“Each cricket association gets Rs.250 million as subsidy from the BCCI. They earn another Rs.70-80 million from TV rights of an international game. Through ticket sales and in-stadia advertising they can raise nearly Rs.500 million,” said former BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra, a key member of the current national cricket administration.
“Why shouldn’t they have dedicated cricket grounds and well laid out wickets? Those who do not adhere to the 2009 deadline will not be allotted matches.”
Daljeet Singh, curator at the magnificent Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here, says that by 2009 cricket grounds should have only good wickets.
The stadium, facilities and the pitches at the PCA have become BCCI’s benchmark for other venues in the country to follow.
“When our committee recently visited the Guwahati ground, we were horrified with the preparations for the India-Pakistan match. The ground is used for football matches and other sports apart from public functions,” revealed Daljeet Singh, a former Bihar Ranji Trophy captain and wicketkeeper.
“It is remarkable that the local cricket authorities were still able to lay a wicket in time. But we won’t want such dusty tracks in future.”
The BCCI has made it clear to centres like Guwahati, Kochi, Rajkot and Vadodara among others that dedicated cricket grounds are a must.
“Some of these associations are already building stadiums on new grounds. They have the money. So why can’t they buy land and create their own facilities?” asked Bindra.
To ensure good wickets throughout the country, the cricket board is sponsoring research on soil samples with the strength-testing laboratory of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai.
The 11 parameters for good soil for cricket pitches have been borrowed from Australia.
“Now there is big awareness about pitches and grounds and the need to improve them. Some 32 samples were sent to IIT out of which 14 were not found up to the mark. The testing will be an ongoing process to keep improving the wickets,” Singh pointed out.
“We don’t have to do much research on the grass for pitches and grounds as enough has already been done for golf in this country.”
The PCA curator felt it was up to the state associations to prepare good pitches.
“The board itself cannot prepare pitches. The associations must do it. There should be a fair amount of grass on the track and no dusty patches, please,” added Singh.
Bindra said the BCCI had recently decided that finals of major domestic tournaments like Ranji, Deodhar and Duleep would be played only at the best venues.
“The home and away policy will be gone. The board will decide which neutral venues to play on. This will force everyone to improve their facilities,” said the former BCCI chief.
In recent months, the BCCI has supplied new imported equipment TO 26 state cricket association for their grounds.
Most of the equipment, including dressers, cutters, bowling machines, tippers, spraying equipment and nets have been imported from the US and Japan at a cost of Rs.10 million per centre.