Pitch sting was a big security lapse

Chennai: The sting operation that overshadowed India’s victory in the second ODI against New Zealand in Pune has raised more questions about the BCCI match guidelines than the integrity of the local curator, Pandurang Salgaoncar.

The TV sting claimed that the video of a ‘bookie interacting with the curator’ at the pitch was shot just a day before the match. A former curator who represented South Zone couldn’t believe what they showed on TV as the pitch can’t be accessed just like that, especially on the eve of an international match. “I don’t understand why the wicket was not barricaded? The local association was supposed to do it one day before. If anything, the local association should be pulled up for the security breach and they should have also suspended the BCCI curator Ramesh Mhamunkar who was actually supervising the preparation,” he said.

The sting video showed a man wearing a pair of heel shoes tapping his foot on the pitch. “The basic instruction given to all groundsmen is to stop anyone walking into the ground wearing heels. It applies to commentators, officials and even the match referee. During a match earlier this year, a presenter from the official broadcaster was told not to enter the ground in stilettoes. When asked how come the knowledgeable presenter coming from a family of cricketers didn’t know this, she said her production team insisted on wearing high heels,” said the former curator.

The ex-curator suspects a conspiracy against Salgaoncar, a former first-class pacer who is known for producing flat and bouncy wickets. He also shares a good rapport with former president of Maharashtra Cricket Association, Ajay Shirke. The current chief Abhay Apte replaced him only in January this year.

The previous international match that Pune hosted also ended up in a controversy with the hosts losing inside three days. “After the match, it was widely reported that it was BCCI chief curator Daljit Singh who had instructed Salgaoncar to prepare a certain kind of a track that boomeranged,” the ex-curator said.

The curators have a specific gag order from the BCCI not to talk to media in the run-up the match. “Even passing information to media on the nature of pitch is wrong,” he said.