When a Virgin Wicket Drew Blood

The Kotla pitch, the Michael Jackson of pitches, had one plastic surgery too many. Worse, the pitch was an untested loose cannon.

The abandoned one-day international between India and Sri Lanka in Delhi set off memories of a childhood toy—the crazy ball. It is a small hard ball, similar to the one used in squash. But the squash ball does not bounce much. Crazy ball does. It bounces back to whatever height you drop it from, whether it is the top of a cupboard or the first-floor balcony. 

The bounce at Ferozeshah Kotla was of the same spellbinding but dangerous proportions. But then, a crazy ball is made from rubber while its cricketing sibling (it’s always a sibling for some reason) is built with cork and leather. It is harder. It can kill. The wicket was also schizophrenic, offering fearsome lift from a good length delivery and none at all the next. This was not expected from Kotla, from which we are used to nothing less than world-class boredom.

This, however, is exactly what we expected from the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). For years, they have provided us with top-quality corruption, politics and tardiness. On this occasion, even warnings from the International Cricket Council (ICC) inspection team did not stop them from doing what comes naturally. The DDCA has no competition when it comes to mismanagement. Not even from the Indian cricket board. On Happy Bouncy Sunday, however, even the BCCI made a crucial contribution. They made Delhi a venue when Daljit Singh, then the head of the BCCI pitch committee, had indicated that the pitches were not battle ready. In recognition of their efforts, the pitch committees of both institutions were kicked out. Certainly, they must have departed in a blaze of glory, signing autographs.

Seriously speaking, the episode shows once again how egoistic compulsions blind some officials to an extent where the game and the playing conditions cease to matter. The Kotla pitch had four curators in five years. And it has been relaid four times in this period. It was the Michael Jackson of pitches. There was one plastic surgery too many.    

The ICC inspection team also sensed a clash between the DDCA pitch officials and their, well, siblings from the BCCI. The final straw was last minute experimentation, an inherently dangerous activity, so that the pitch could withstand the workload of a full ODI. Agreed, the rotation policy and monetary factors make it difficult to drop a city as a venue, but Delhi simply was not ready to stage a game.

Of late, pitches in India have not been up to the mark one way or the other. The grounds that conducted the Tests before the One-dayers between India and Sri Lanka offered no bounce and pace. In Delhi, there was so much bounce, that too variable, that limb and life were at risk. The officials need to make sure that if a wicket is not perfect, it should at least be broken in, and not an untested loose cannon.

cricketFerozeshah Kotlapitch