NEW DELHI: The pitch on the Ekana stadium in Lucknow has been within the information for all of the fallacious causes all the way through the IPL. On Wednesday, Lucknow Super Giants controlled to attain simply 125/7 in 19.2 overs towards CSK ahead of the fit was once deserted because of rain. This has been the norm on the venue this season and groups have struggled to attain at six runs in line with over.
While one can hint the painfully gradual nature of the pitch again to the T20I towards New Zealand on January 29, the BCCI’s interference hasn’t helped a lot in resurrecting the sq.. TOI has discovered that the BCCI curators had taken over the bottom in February and determined to renovate the pitch with about 50 days ahead of the IPL started.
Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) had suspended its curator Surender Kumar after chasing 100 become a job within the T20Is towards New Zealand.
“BCCI had decided to send a panel of curators to look after the pitch in Lucknow. They decided to do grassing on the square in such a short time frame. That has backfired. The pitches have stayed undercooked,” a BCCI supply advised TOI.
“BCCI curators told UPCA to redo the pitches and it was outsourced to a contractor in the first week of February. It takes six weeks for the pitches to settle down after the grassing. But it takes care and minute monitoring right through. UPCA has spent a lot on the surface but nobody really cared after the contract was handed out. Nobody really looked after the square. Hence, nothing worked,” the supply mentioned.
The LSG crew control too has expressed its displeasure. The crew may now not have its pre-season camps at its house flooring. They have been pressured to carry a camp on the Ferozeshah Kotla in February-March.
“The team didn’t have any idea about the surface when they went to play the first match. In the first match against Delhi Capitals, the pitch was covered with a heavy layer of grass. Nobody could gauge how the underlying surface was. And It all unraveled very quickly,” the supply mentioned.
TOI understands that the BCCI’s knee-jerk response after the New Zealand T20I got here preserving the ODI World Cup later within the yr in thoughts. “Lucknow is slated to host World Cup matches in October-November. Perhaps, that forced the BCCI’s hand. They will have to renovate the surface during the off season after the IPL,” the supply mentioned.