Welcome to Green Park Stadium for the fifth ODI. And then, in the same breath, welcome to chaos. As usual, it’s the wrangling between the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association and the civic administration over matters ranging from passes to security that has kept the city in tension. Locals believe this time, just like the importance of the match itself, the fight behind the scenes couldn’t get bigger than this. However, the game must go on. And, talking cricket, the pitch and outfield look in good — if not excellent — condition. The outfield in particular had been a cause for concern of late, but the relaid grass is evenly spread. The wicket, according to Anand Shukla, BCCI pitches committee member, and chief curator Shiv Kumar, is batsman-oriented; spinners, they said, will get slow turn as the match progresses. ‘‘The bounce will not be as high as the one we saw in Jamshedpur but it will be good for the batsmen to play on the rise’’, says Shukla. He goes so far as to predict that the previous highest score of 259 (India vs England in 1989) at this venue should get a beating. Legendary groundsman Chhote Lal, who has prepared practice and match wickets here since 1979-80, says the match will be decided in favour of who bats first. ‘‘It will be difficult chasing’’, he says, ‘‘a total of 280-plus should be safe.’’ Here is a tinge of green but it’s just dead rolled grass. Not like the green he left in his very first Test wicket, which West Indian fast bowler Malcolm Marshall exploited. “I still remember that match. Malcolm bowled a bouncer and Gavaskar’s bat left his hand. Everyone fumed at me during lunch, asking my why I left grass on the wicket.’’ India have played eight of the nine ODIs staged here, winning six. One of those two defeats was when India — captained by Kapil Dev — were dismissed for 78 by new boys Sri Lanka, back in 1986. The one player who should be looking forward to Friday is Sachin Tendulkar, for whom this is a happy hunting ground. ‘‘Sachin’s innings here against Australia was one of the best ever played at this ground’’, Chhote Lal remembers. ‘‘If I’m not wrong, he hit six sixes in that innings. I was sitting besides the sight-screen and all of them flew over the screen. And then, even that wicket was crumbling a bit in the second innings.’’ An ominous bit of detail on a man who seems to be finding his form again.
