BCCI was always busy with contracts: Kasturi

In an effort to implement the first part of his plan, the committee short-listed 10 centres and a new pitch was laid. Were the pitches sporting? Kasturi says, ‘‘Almost 75 per cent, but we needed some more time.’’ The pitch expert insists that enough time was not given to the wickets to settle down. ‘‘We started implementing our plans in September, 2002 so there was not much time for the wickets to settle down. The board should have waited before playing a match on them,’’ he adds.

Going back on his original blue print, Kasturi adds that domestic centres were also part of ‘‘a carefully planned operation’’ of his committee. ‘‘Moving to domestic centres was the next logical step, but before doing that I was keen on educating the groundsmen,’’ he says.

But the BCCI, it seems, did not take this part seriously. Even the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute’s repeated reminder about a workshop for groundsmen fell on deaf ears.

Elaborating on the primitive methods adopted by the groundmen across the country, Kasturi says: ‘‘There are just five curators in India and they were part of the committee. Rest are just doing an old-style job.’’

Hitting the nail on its head, Kasturi is specific when he explains that groundsmen even at Test centres were not aware that a one-tonne roller was enough to roll and keep the grass alive. ‘‘Ideally a one-tonne roller needs to be used for just three hours in 20 days to make the pitches faster. But these guys use a 2.5 tonne roller everyday. These were some of the basic problems which I wanted to tackle.’’

Kasturi also had concrete plans about nuturing wickets during off-season. But unfortunately, the BCCI’s attention was elsewhere. ‘‘I had written a number of letters to the board on this issue, but they were neck-deep involved with ICC and sponsorship issue.’’

Kasturi also believes that the contract problem caused the belated reaction from the BCCI to his resignation. ‘‘I put in my papers on June 13 but Mr Dalmiya was away from the country and could only get back to me by the last week of June. All because of those contract issues.’’