Improve: The facet pitches have improved because of the injection of artificial fibres into the floor.
| Photograph Credit score: R.V. Moorthy
Quickly after the ODI World Cup obtained over final yr, the officers at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Affiliation (HPCA) had a dialogue with the gamers on methods to enhance the follow services.
The gamers said that with an excessive amount of cricket occurring all year long, there was fairly a bit of damage and tear on the follow pitches, which wanted pressing consideration.
Led by Indian Premier League’s Governing Council chairman Arun Dhumal, the HPCA determined to put in 4 hybrid pitches on the sq. of the scenic venue on the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, and SISGrass, a UK-based artificial turf producer, was tasked with the undertaking.
Underneath the steering of former England worldwide Paul Taylor, his staff labored around the clock from the second week of March this yr and injected 5 per cent artificial fibres into the pure floor to make sure the pitches had been stronger and prepared earlier than the Indian Premier League.
“Throughout a recreation, your centre wicket is at all times protected, however the load is excessive on the facet wickets which are used for follow classes. So, our goal was to offer good follow wickets to the groups and that’s why we determined to make use of this expertise,” Dhumal instructed The Hindu on Monday.
“The soil binding stays the identical, the standard of the grass improves and the wickets are higher. With this, we will maintain any put on and tear on the floor. For now, we have now used this expertise just for follow pitches and if and when the ICC provides approval for it for use in worldwide video games, we’ll react accordingly,” he mentioned.
The gamers from Punjab Kings and Chennai Tremendous Kings had lengthy classes over the previous couple of days and in response to Dhumal, the gamers had been pleased with the follow pitches and ‘didn’t even realise that there’s 5 per cent fibre injected into it’.
In line with Taylor, “We use polyethylene monofilament fibre and the basic factor that’s totally different about our pitch, is that it’s nonetheless 95 % a pure turf floor.”
