Green revolution grounded

There have been two sub-standard entities in the on going Test series - the West Indians and the pitches. While we wouldn’t lose sleep...

There have been two sub-standard entities in the on going Test series – the West Indians and the pitches. While we wouldn’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 BCCI’s ‘green revolution’ 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 ‘sporting wickets’. 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 ‘voluntary set-up of India’s ground administrators’. ‘‘There is no qualified curator and besides there is no continuity as ground officials are usually voluntary and are elected for a short period,’’ he says.

Walmsley’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 ‘mali culture’.

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

But considering BCCI’s track record the ‘green project’ seems a distant dream. Walmsley points out that they had recommended the training project last year but still they ‘‘haven’t heard from BCCI’’. Parsana seconded the point, ‘‘the Board still hasn’t taken steps to initiate the training programme for groundsmen.’’

‘Captain’s interference should be stopped’

BCCI’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 captain’s interference is uncalled for. ‘‘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,’’ he says.