'When I came here yesterday, I was worried and I couldn’t sleep at night. But thanks to Brijesh, we found a way out. He asked me if it would help if we covered the pitch from above, and got a waterproof shamiana erected'
Everyone who stepped into the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Thursday were greeted by the strange sight of a shamiana covering the pitch.
The second Test between India and South Africa gets underway on Saturday but persistent rain for the last three days has hampered the pitch preparation for the match.
With time running out to get a pitch ready for the match, the ground-staff hit upon a unique idea wherein they built a temporary waterproof shamiana-like structure to cover the area on and around the pitch, which would allow them to work on the 22-yard strip even if it rained.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s chief curator for South Zone, PR Viswanathan was specially dispatched from Chennai to Bangalore to assist Karnataka State Cricket Assocation’s chief curator K Sriram.
He claimed it was former Test cricketer and KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel’s idea to get the shamiana in place, while also using other techniques to dry the pitch.
“When I came here yesterday, I was worried and I couldn’t sleep at night. But thanks to Brijesh, we found a way out. He asked me if it would help if we covered the pitch from above, and got a waterproof shamiana erected,” Viswanathan said on Thursday.
“I must say full credit to Brijesh for getting it done. He got a contractor who is into the business of erecting pandals and shamianas etc for functions, and they had the structure up in an hour. Today I’m not worried. If we get sunshine like today, I’ll be the happiest man They used hot air, among other techniques to dry the pitch,” he added.
The Indian team management has already sounded an alert to the curators asking them to come up with a turning track, similar to the one used in the first Test in Mohali.
The Mohali pitch offered help to the spinners right from Day 1, and India’s spin troika of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra made most of the conditions, claiming 19 of the 20 wickets to lead India to an easy victory.
In what will sound like sweet music to Virat Kohli and his team, Viswanathan said the pitch will turn from the first day itself.
“I expect there will be some turn from the first day, but we are trying to create a pitch that will have some grass and still offer turn. We have used the heavy roller for just about an hour, so it won’t be a completely flat pitch. The pitch used here was used one and a half months back for a Ranji Trophy game,” he said.
He also made it clear that the grass cover which was distinctly visible on the pitch on Thursday would disappear soon.
“We have cut the grass today only, down to 1 mm. I expect it will grow again to 2mm by tomorrow, which might be cut again,” he said.