2-day all India curators annual seminar commences today

Rajkot, Jun 8 (UNI) The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Niranjan Shah today said that BCCI is in the process of making good, bouncy and sporting wickets in the country.

In his inaugural speech at the two-day seminar for the curators of all the state associations held here, Mr Shah said that sporting pitch would be prepared, which will be helpful for the bowlers as well as to the batsmen.

''Though, 'this is a slow process', we will make it better, lively and sporting wicket for domestic and international matches within two to three years,'' he said.

Curators will be provided the best equipments for the preparations of pitches and grounds, he said.

The seminar aims for interaction between experts of the field and the curators of various state associations in order to assist curator to prepare good and sporting wickets at their venues, he explained.

India's pitches and grounds would be world-class and it would be made to look like as in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, he assured.

Speaking on the occasion, BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said that BCCI has been doing well in terms of development of cricket. ''We will bring a dramatic change in the pitches within three years,'' he said.

Also present at the function, BCCI Pitches Committee Chairman Daljit Singh said that every effort is being made to fair pitches are dished out for any level of cricket played in the country.

Singh said, ''There is nothing wrong in having home advantage, since every country has its characteristics as far pitches are concerned. When matches are held at Australia, we expect fast, bouncy wickets. When people come to India they expect wickets that will turn and I don't think there is any element of unfairness in that. The committee is striving to bring professionalism in the set-up.'' In domestic cricket, the emphasis now is to produce fair wickets.

The Board has now issued guidelines to the associations that any BCCI match, whether it is Under-15, Under-19 or Ranji Trophy or any BCCI-categorised tournament, the pitch must start with grass and a little bit of moisture on the first day, he added.

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