Ranji Trophy: Thumbs-up for neutral pitch curators

CHENNAI: Pitch has been a hot topic of discussion in the Ranji Trophy circuit over the last few seasons. From mandatory grassy wickets everywhere to hosting all matches in neutral venues to stop the practice of doctoring pitches, several steps have been taken. Nothing worked, or satisfied the majority of those playing, as these measures drew criticism at the annual conclave of Ranji captains.

That’s when it was decided before the start of this season that pitches for all matches would be supervised by neutral curators. The BCCI’s pitches and grounds committee, which had 10 members, was strengthened to 28.

Every venue hosting a game had one representative of the committee overseeing preparations for five days before a match. Their job was over once it started. The idea was to ensure no team prepares surfaces that overwhelmingly suit their strengths.

That this would be done was reported by Express on September 7. With the competition reaching the semifinals, the pitch report is by and large satisfactory.

Although 13 of the 84 matches in the group stages didn’t go to the last day, it’s still an improvement from the last two years (16 and 27). No venue overtly supported one type of bowling. There were also instances of the neutral curators mitigating changes by home curators.

“Wherever we played, I would say the pitches were quite decent. Almost everywhere there was a result or chance of a result on the fourth day, which is what most captains want no matter where you are playing,” said Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare. “In my view, things were better than the last few years. Better than what we had gotten when we played in neutral venues last season, when in many places it didn’t matter what kind of pitch was provided.”

This improvement is intangible since it’s not easily reflected in numbers, but contests were more even. Number of outright wins in group stage came down to 47 from 60, suggesting that in certain places conditions became more playable. There were hardly any complaints regarding pitch, a rare occurrence.

“We have a fairly big pool of qualified curators. We tried to ensure the neutral curator is from the same zone so that he has some idea of local conditions,” said Daljit Singh, head of BCCI’s grounds and pitches committee. “BCCI conducted a workshop for curators regarding what needs to be done. Going by what we’ve seen, I think it’s been a successful experiment.”
If this move gets a thumbs-up at next year’s conclave of captains, expect it to become a permanent fixture.

atreyo@newindianexpress.com