BCCI’s rushed Ekana pitch renovation backfires on IPL | Cricket News – Times of India

Board curators decided on ‘grassing’ after India-New Zealand T20I
NEW DELHI: The pitch at the Ekana stadium in Lucknow has been in the news for all the wrong reasons during the IPL. On Wednesday, Lucknow Super Giants managed to score just 125/7 in 19.2 overs against CSK before the match was abandoned due to rain. This has been the norm at the venue this season and teams have struggled to score at six runs per over.
While one can trace the painfully sluggish nature of the pitch back to the T20I against New Zealand on January 29, the BCCI’s interference hasn’t helped much in resurrecting the square. TOI has learnt that the BCCI curators had taken over the ground in February and decided to renovate the pitch with about 50 days before the IPL began.
Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) had suspended its curator Surender Kumar after chasing 100 became a task in the T20I against 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 source told 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 source said.
The LSG team management too has expressed its displeasure. The team couldn’t have its pre-season camps at its home ground. They were forced to hold a camp at 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 underneath surface was. And it all unravelled very quickly,” the source said.
TOI understands that the BCCI’s knee-jerk reaction after the New Zealand T20I came keeping the ODI World Cup later in the year in mind. “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 source said.