Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the captain of Chennai Super Kings will not have any say regarding the type of pitch in the upcoming IPL-6 tournament which is going to commence next week.
According to the recently released stringent guidelines by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), neither the IPL franchise nor the players will have a say regarding the wicket preparation during the world’s richest cricket event which is going to be played for over one-and-a-half months in various places in India.
The apex body has issued strict guidelines in a meeting with the five zonal members of the pitches and grounds committee in early March which is supposed to be followed by curators at all the IPL venues. Then the curators were ushered to a day’s workshop to appraise them of the Board’s directives at Mumbai on 17th March 2013.The sole purpose of issuing these strict guidelines is to maintain uniformity in the character of pitches throughout the country while preserving their particular characters.
The BCCI directive clearly mentioned that the chief curator of the hosting association will be exclusively responsible for the ground and pitch preparation of all the IPL matches. He will be the only person who will be accountable for the selection of the practice and match pitches. The IPL franchise and the players are not supposed to say anything in this regard.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Board’s pitches and grounds committee Daljit Singh will be available for advice whenever required. He also carries the right to interfere in any issues arising related to the pitches at any IPL venue.
The BCCI desires to guarantee good contests throughout the event which is supposed to attract lot of spectators. According to sources, the organizers wish to see close contests and narrow victory margins in the games while blocking a few matches in which Sunil Narine, Chris Gayle or Virender Sehwag who are capable of crushing any opposition.
To achieve this, the BCCI desires every curator to remember that the character of the pitches should remain the same for both the innings of the match and the pitches should bear good pace and carry on with the consistent bounce.
To add feather to the hat, the IPL organizing committee will grant a prize of Rs 25 lakh to the best venue at the end of the event. Mohali has won this reward thrice followed by Chennai and Jaipur winning once each till date.
This is a very good decision taken by the BCCI regarding the maintenance of the grounds and pitches. It will also fade away the chances of distraction in the game arising due to the pitch quality. Moreover the reward policy of the board will introduce competition among the venues to maintain the grounds and pitches at their excellent level without fail.
