Considering the embarrassment the Ferozshah Kotla pitch fiasco has brought upon Indian cricket, in hindsight one wonders whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should have staged the match at Delhi.
Considering the embarrassment the Ferozshah Kotla pitch fiasco has brought upon Indian cricket, in hindsight one wonders whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should have staged the match at Delhi.
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The BCCI had a chance to shift the game to another venue when the Delhi and District Cricket Association asked the game to be made a day game, instead of a day-nighter as per the original schedule.
Since day-night matches are much more appreciated than day fixtures, the BCCI could have allotted the match to another association which could host a day-nighter. And in any case, Delhi had their share of international cricket with the Champions League Twenty20 and the India vs Australia game in October.
Virender Sehwag, who led India in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was suspended for two games in the series, remarked after the Kolkata ODI against Sri Lanka that he was not certain about the nature of his home ground wicket.
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar in his pitch report yesterday called the track a "hair transplant pitch". "It's a hair transplant pitch with bald patches and some patches of grass. Batsmen have to watch out. I am not sure about it. Looks like a 'batting first' pitch. Difficult to predict what it will do," he said.
And within the first half an hour of play, the worst fears about the pitch came true.
Mumbai Cricket Association joint secretary Lalchand Rajput felt Delhi shouldn't have been allotted the match in this part of the season. "The match shouldn't have been played in Delhi during this season. We had a similar incident in Indore in 1997 when India's ODI against Sri Lanka was abandoned. As a result, the BCCI formed a pitch and grounds committee. The chairman of the committee is required to inspect the venue a week before the game. It is unfortunate that we had such a poor wicket even after all these measures,' said Rajput.
Former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said the state association should be held responsible for the fiasco. "The BCCI is not to be blamed for this incident. It is the responsibility of the state association. They had enough time to prepare the wicket. They should be well prepared as the stakes are so high and so much money is involved in terms of sponsorship, TV rights, etc. It could mean a loss of approximately Rs 25 crore," said Shah.
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