Tip to curator of green park makes his life difficult

Kanpur, Apr 17 (UNI) Even as Team India achieved a resounding win at the Green Park stadium here, Rs 10,000 award to its curator by Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his life overloaded with problems who advised media to exercise restrain.

''I am fed up with the queries in this regard...More so the amount has to be distributed among many groundsmen,'' he said while mentioning the media reports in this connection have largely been misleading.

''Media ought to exercise restrain while publishing any article...it is baseless that India got a rip-roaring success, as pitch was prepared as per their wish,'' curator Shiv Kumar told UNI today.

''An award is synonymous with happiness...It is a tradition and Men in Blue had been giving such kind of awards to curators after winning matches since long, then why eyebrows are being raised in my case,'' Mr Kumar asked.

He said even master blaster Sachin Tendulker gave such an award to a curator after defeating Newzealand in 2000. Saurav Ganguly too did it after India-South Africa face off was draw in 2004.

''I understand that media did not publish any article out of personal vengeance, but, it should try not to hurt the sentiments of others,'' the curator underlined.

Mr Kumar noted had the pitches been prepared on wishes of the host team, visiting teams would have never defeated them. Quite often, visiting team rocks the series with its phenomenal win.

''The issue is being raised unnecessarily...people are saying that I was awarded for preparing a miraculous pitch. It is a slur on me and overloaded my life with problems. It has made my life hell,'' he observed.

He further added Saurav scored 87 runs and V V S Laxman also played extremely well, which shows that the pitch was not friendly for spinners alone.

It is true that pitch plays a significant role in the victory of any team, but, a lot more depends on the players' confidence and hard work too...each and every player of Team India had burnt the midnight oil and was determined to give a befitting reply to Ahmedabad defeat, he stressed.

Even South Africa captain Greame Smith put a halt to this controversy saying the pitch was perfectly alright and India won, due to its team work, Mr Kumar added.

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