Met proposal hit for six

Three months after it was announced that the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI would henceforth take professional...

Three months after it was announced that the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI would henceforth take professional advice from the weather department before finalising the fixtures of matches in India in order to avoid rain disruptions, the proposal is all but dead.

The idea had come from Earth Sciences Minister Kapil Sibal who had suggested to his cabinet colleague and BCCI president Sharad Pawar in May that there should be a permanent mechanism in place through which the board could get a detailed venue-specific weather information before deciding on the fixtures.

After Pawar gave his support to the suggestion, Sibal had said that the formalities would be worked out in the next few weeks. However, there has been absolutely no movement on the proposal after that, with both sides expecting the other to take the idea forward.

8220;We have not received any communication from the cricket board so far. We need to know what their requirements are. We are ready to share our data with them,8221; Director General of Indian Meteorological Department R C Bhatia told The Indian Express.

BCCI, on the other hand, said since the initial proposal had come from the Earth Sciences Ministry, they should have followed it up. 8220;We were waiting for them to take it forward. It was a good proposal,8221; Ratnakar Shetty said.

8220;While deciding the fixtures we do keep in mind the general climatic conditions expected at a venue during that specific part of the year but a detailed professional advice would have been handy,8221; he said.

Shetty had told this paper in May that upcoming home series with Australia in September would be the first tournament to benefit from this mechanism. However, the fixtures for the Australia series have already been announced without any input from the Met department.