‘Pitches need water every 70-80 hours’

The Bombay high court’s order to shift the IPL matches out of Maharashtra comes not only as a major logistical loss to the IPL, but also as a titanic blow to the pitches in the allocated venues.

“The grass on the pitches requires water after every 70-80 hours to maintain its greenery. If not watered after the stipulated time period, it will die,” Amar Karlekar, pitch curator at Vidarbha Cricket Association (Jamtha stadium in Nagpur) said. The VCA is awaiting further orders over whether to water the pitches or not.

“The five pitches over here require about 20,000 to 35,000 litres of water. We water the pitches with sewage water. If the pitches die then it will be a loss of about Rs 20 lakh,” Mr Karlekar added.