Green revolution grounded

There have been two sub-standard entities in the on going Test series - the West Indians and the pitches. While we wouldn8217;t lose sleep...

There have been two sub-standard entities in the on going Test series 8211; the West Indians and the pitches. While we wouldn8217;t lose sleep over the first, the second is surely a cause of concern for us. And the pitch problem brings to the mind an obvious question. What happened to BCCI8217;s 8216;green revolution8217; project announced not so long ago?

If the Indian board had thought that their job was done by assigning this project to the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute NZSTI in consultation with their own pitches committee, the news from the two quarters is far from heartening.

Both have said that still a lot needs to be done for India to have 8216;sporting wickets8217;. Sports turf agronomist Bill Walmsley of NZSTI, who visited the ten Test centres in India, told The Indian Express from New Zealand that the major problem is the 8216;voluntary set-up of India8217;s ground administrators8217;. 8216;8216;There is no qualified curator and besides there is no continuity as ground officials are usually voluntary and are elected for a short period,8217;8217; he says.

Walmsley8217;s assessments on the lacunae in the system finds echo in the form of Dhiraj Parsana, a West Zone nominee of the Grounds and Pitches Committee of the BCCI who bemoans the 8216;mali culture8217;.

8216;8216;What we have in India is a system of 8216;malis8217; and administrators who are mostly non-cricketers,8217;8217; laments Parsana. He also adds 8216;8216;where ever I go, I do try and educate them malis. But it is tough.8217;8217; Walmsely is also 8216;less than optimistic8217; about the varied nature of soil across the country. And this could be a major hindarance to BCCI8217;s green plan. 8216;8216;There are regions in India where the soil quality is so poor that it is almost impossible to prepare a good wicket,8217;8217; he says. So does that mean a dead end for the 8216;sporting wicket8217; project. 8216;8216;No,8217;8217; says Walmsley, 8216;8216;a viable solution could be transporting the soil to place where the conditions are not right to prepare good wicket.8217;8217;

But considering BCCI8217;s track record the 8216;green project8217; seems a distant dream. Walmsley points out that they had recommended the training project last year but still they 8216;8216;haven8217;t heard from BCCI8217;8217;. Parsana seconded the point, 8216;8216;the Board still hasn8217;t taken steps to initiate the training programme for groundsmen.8217;8217;

8216;Captain8217;s interference should be stopped8217;

BCCI8217;s pitches committee member Dhiraj Parsana said the Indian team management is also to be blamed for the poor wickets. Being more specific he said that captain8217;s interference is uncalled for. 8216;8216;This has been happening for a long time now. This give and take system has to end if we have to move forward and produce better results abroad,8217;8217; he says.