Indore pitch furore: Who is to blame - curator, team management or BCCI?

With it, the Holkar Stadium strip has received three demerit points. But what is surprising is that there are reports in the media that some action may be taken against curator Samundar Singh Chauhan for laying a sub-standard pitch.  It is presumed that he is the main culprit

It is no surprise that the ICC has given a ‘poor’ rating to the pitch for the third Test here that ended before lunch on Day Three.

With it, the Holkar Stadium strip has received three demerit points. But what is surprising is that there are reports in the media that some action may be taken against curator Samundar Singh Chauhan for laying a sub-standard pitch.  It is presumed that he is the main culprit. But going by his track record (pun intended), he has the reputation of preparing very good tracks. The prime examples are the pitches in Gwalior and Indore prepared by him on which Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag scored the first two double centuries in ODI history.

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Good track record

Even if we take the current example, on the surface prepared under the guidance of the same curator for the Irani Cup being played 500km away in Gwalior, loads of runs have been scored and the match is all set to enter the fifth day.

The moot point is: Is only the local curator Chauhan the culprit? What about BCCI’s pitch committee member Tapos Chatterji, who was present well before the start of the third Test to oversee the pitch preparation? Two days before the start of the match, hardly any watering and rolling were carried out on the pitch. Only the area up to six feet from the stumps was watered and rolled for the foothold of bowlers and batsmen. The rest of the pitch was bone dry. No wonder puffs of dust could be seen right from the start of the game. Even some of the MPCA officials were surprised by this method of preparation and warned that the game would last till tea on the third day. They were proved wrong. The match did not even last till lunch on the third day. 

Curator, the sole villain?

Thus, to lay the entire blame on the curator is totally unfair. The same was the case with the third T20I against New Zealand played at Ekana Stadium at Lucknow in January. It was at the team’s behest that the pitch was changed two days before the game on which India struggled to chase down a mere 100 and just about won the game. After skipper Hardik Pandya criticised the pitch, the curator was sacked.

Now, there are reports that Chauhan may meet a similar fate. Whether any action will be taken against Chauhan, only time will tell, but one thing is certain, his reputation has taken a big hit and he needs to regain it in due course. The BCCI will have to give serious thought about how much leeway should be given to the Indian team management’s request to make pitches to their advantage. Also, when things go wrong, who is to be held responsible? Surely not just the curator, who easily comes under pressure from the team management.  

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