Karnail Singh pitch row: Venue prone to be barred once more
Karnail Singh Stadium is prone to be barred from internet hosting first-class matches once more after the Ranji Trophy fixture between Railways and Punjab needed to be suspended after the floor was deemed “dangerous and unfit for play” by the match officers.
The Indian Express has learnt that the venue which had come underneath scanner in 2011 is prone to get suspended once more. In 2012, Railways needed to shift their dwelling base to Bhubaneswar after it was banned for 2 years from internet hosting video games after the BCCI committee arrived at a conclusion that native curators had intentionally under-prepared the wicket to assist the house workforce.
The match re-started on Day 3 (on Thursday) after the native curators ready a contemporary pitch. The rescheduled two-day match led to a draw with Punjab taking the first-innings lead. During the drinks break on Day 2, on-field umpires Ok Madanagopal and Rajeeev Ghodara in session with match referee Youraj Singh determined to droop the Railways vs Punjab fixture after each the captains raised flags concerning the security of the pitch. By then 24 wickets had fallen with one in all Railways batsman Arindam Ghosh already struggling a fractured finger and a number of other others hit on their physique.
Railways had been set to play their subsequent three matches at Karnail Singh Stadium, however the fixture in opposition to Madhya Pradesh (December 27 to 30) has been moved to Holkar Stadium in Indore.
“BCCI’s neutral curator, Tapas Chatterjee, who was supposed to prepare the pitch for the Madhya Pradesh game has said that he needs at least five days to prepare the wicket,” mentioned a Railway official on the situation of anonymity.
The subsequent two dwelling matches of Railways are in opposition to Jammu and Kashmir (January 3-6) and Tripura (January 10-13) on the Karnail Singh Stadium, and there are excessive possibilities these video games too will likely be shifted to different venues.
Interestingly, native curator Rakesh Mehrotra has been given a token of appreciation by the match officers for making ready a contemporary wicket inside a day time.
“This is with regards to his sheer knowledge and hard work which has enabled us to conduct a game for 2 days i.e. Ranji Trophy (Railways vs Punjab) held at the Karnail Singh Stadium in spite of all the challenges and at very short notice he has used all his expertise and provided us with a sporting wicket,” learn the joint letter signed by umpires Rajiv Godara and Ok Madanagopal and match referee Youraj Singh.
“He deserves a lot of appreciation for his excellent work. We wish him the best of luck for all his future endeavours.”
