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Kapil to mastermind pitch preparations in India

Prem Panicker

The latest meeting of the working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India offers lots of food for thought.

And as usual when the august body meets, the results are pretty much in the curate's egg mould - good in parts.

Deserving of a very large bouquet is the decision to hand over to former Test star Kapil Dev the responsibility for improving the conditions of pitches in India.

As envisaged, it is a two-phase programme. The first phase, which will last for three years, will see Kapil, helped by a panel of zonal directors who are yet to be nominated, taking on the responsibility of improving pitches, ground conditions and the stadium facilities in ten major cricket venues in India: Wankhede in Bombay; the Motera in Ahmedabad; M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai; Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore; Firozeshah Kotla in New Delhi; the PCA stadium in Mohali; Calcutta's Eden Gardens; Barabati Stadium in Cuttack; the Vidharba CA ground in Nagpur and Green Park, Kanpur.

Kapil, who has been insisting that whatever work he does for Indian cricket will be on a voluntary basis, has remained true to his resolve and will not be paid for his efforts - thus, his role as Curator of grounds is purely honorary. And as a first step, he has asked that the BCCI appoint, in consultation with the Sports Authority of India, a curator for each of the ten grounds.

Kapil's argument is that unless there is a person given the responsibility of each ground, and more importantly, held accountable for results, nothing will ever be accomplished.

As his next step, Kapil plans to study the report submitted by the two-member team of New Zealand specialists who are, as of now, in India to study Indian pitch and soil conditions. Keith McAulifee, leader of the team, meanwhile indicated that he andd his colleague hadd already visited 16 grounds in India, and handed over their detailed recommendations to the BCCI.

It is an interesting move, this, and one that deserves plaudits. If only because for once, the BCCI has gone beyond merely talking of making changes, and is actually taking steps to introduce them.

There is consensus, among players and fans alike, that most of the pitches in India are not exactly sporting wickets. And greats ranging from Dennis Lillee to Kapil himself have consistently argued that Indian pitches need to be made faster and bouncier - their reasoning being two fold. Only fast pitches, experts argue, will encourage and produce fast bowlers. And only on such wickets will Indian batsmen learn to combat pace and bounce, and in consequence, be able to cope better with the kind of tracks they are liable to find when they go on tours.

Results of the Kapil Dev curatorship should begin showing by the time the next international season begins, in August.

Interestingly, the BCCI has also gone beyond its annual exercise of asking Ranji captains to submit reports, and then dumping it in the trashcan. This time round, the working committee has actually studied the reports, and taken some decisions that will come as a pleasant surprise to the players. And the most important of them is that the Ranji Trophy will no longer be played under lights - I mean, if there is anything sillier than a five-day game being played in the night hours, I'd like to know what it is.

A one-day game is different. You play till 11 or later, then attend the after-game meeting and stuff, hit your bed around 2 am, and sleep as long as you need. Try doing that over five days, though - come the morning, you have to break your rest, attend team meeting to decide strategy for that day's play, do your workout get lunch done, rush to the ground and start play again. NOT a schedule designed to have you performing at your best, simply because it makes a mess of your sleeping habits.

I do, though, feel the decision to play Wills and Deodhar Trophy games under lights is a good thing. One problem with domestic cricket is that these days, it no longer draws much of an audience. And that is because the spectators have their offices to attend, and are unlikely to waste their precious casual leave to watch a game devoid of international interest. Play the same game at night, though, and the guy can get to the ground after work, and catch 2/3rds of the action.

More spectators at the ground, in turn, fire up the players and provide for a greater standard of play.

If I were to take issue with the board, it would be over its having left one major issue unresolved. And it relates to the Chandrakant Pandit sacking. Jagmohan Dalmiya merely said that the matter did not come up for discussion as the explanatory letter from the player was received only the day before the meeting, and as such there was no time to study it.

And why was that? I would think that the issue is important enough for the BCCI to have set a deadline for concerned parties to respond. But no, the BCCI, in the voice of Jagmohan Dalmiya, says, "We will now write to the other concerned parties anad ask for their explanations."

Frankly, I can see in this only an attempt to sweep the entire issue under the carpet, by endlessly delaying it till everyone's forgotten about the issue. Logic should indicate what I mean - if an issue crops up that deserves an investigation, what do you do? You send notes to all concerned parties, asking them to respond by a certain date, and then study all responses at one time, before taking a decision. You certainly don't ask party A to respond, wait for him to do so at his leisure, then ask party B, and so on till everyone has forgotten what the dispute was about in the first place.

The Board is also more duty bound to speed things up in this case, because the controversy involves a member of the national selection committee - Kishen Rungta, to wit. Being an important official of one of the key board committees, Rungta should like Caesar's wife be seen to be above suspicion of bias - and bias against a particular player, and a particular zone, is the underlying issue of the Pandit affair.

So, the longer the Board delays a decision, the more it will indicate to all concerned that it is anxious to hush things up.