BCCI drafts reply, says Kotla pitch poor, not unfit

Deepak Jain>Mon, Jan 04 10 09:05 AM

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has backed the DDCA's argument that the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch was poor and not unfit in its reply to the ICC. As first reported by The Indian Express, this is an attempt from BCCI to get away with the prospective ban on the venue after the abandonment of the fifth one-dayer against Sri Lanka.

The cricket board's aurgument and defence is based on a report submitted by former chief of pitch and grounds committee Venkat Sundaram to DDCA president Arun Jaitley.

BCCI top brass, including president Shashank Manohar and Jaitley, met in Mumbai on Sunday to draft a 25-page reply to the ICC showcause notice on the December 27 pitch fiasco so that the Kotla evades an international ban and gets away with a fine.

'Experiment gone wrong'

According to sources, the report submitted admits that the "pitch was an experiment gone wrong while trying to extract some bounce" and "the curators lacked the expertise," but clarifies that the pitch was not unfit to play. Accordingly, BCCI is preparing a dossier on the entire episode and state that play continued till the 24th over in that match before the officials abandoned the game. BCCI further stressed on the point that of the 130-balls bowled, only seven behaved awkwardly ? either rising alarmingly or keeping low.

"If the pitch is deemed poor, you can pay the fine and get away with it. But if it's considered unfit that would entail a 1-2 year ban which the Board doesn't want since Kotla is also a 2011 World Cup venue," a source said. Incidentally, DDCA vice president and former player Chetan Chauhan had used the same argument to claim that the match officials took a hasty decision in abandoning the match.

Once ICC receives BCCI's response, chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle and ICC general manager (Cricket) Dav Richardson would take a final decision on the issue.

If the track were to be established as poor, Kotla would get away with a USD 15,000 fine. On the other hand, if the pitch is deemed unfit, it may lead to a suspension of Kotla's status as a venue for international matches for 1-2 years.

ICC CEO Haroon Lograt had earlier said that the entire process could take up to a month. Preparations are already on to repair the Kotla pitch and make it playable ahead of the IPLmatches in February.

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