Expect good pace, bounce on Mohali track: Curator

PCA curator Daljeet Singh today said that the wicket will offer good bounce, though it is being ensured that the bowlers are not able to get too much movement.

"It's important to keep grass on the wicket. There will be good pace and bounce, though our effort remains not to have too much movement. The grass will be brownish while the outfied will be fast," Singh said here today.

He, however, said that with cold weather conditions persisting in Punjab, which has been lashed by rains during this week, there would be some movement early on, with the match being a day game.

"The weather forecast shows signs of rain on March 3 and 4. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Due to bad weather earlier, we had started working on the track much early, so that the wicket gets hard before the tie, keeping room for possibility of spell of rains in between and the fact that we may have to cover the wicket," he said.

During the past few days, the upper hills of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have received fresh spell of snowfall while the plains were lashed by rains. The maximum and minimum temperature at Mohali and adjoining Chandigarh during the past few days has been hovering around 20 degrees Celsius and 10 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Singh said that for the first league match at PCA grounds on March 3, the track used will be the one on which last Test match between India and Australia was played.
For the next league match on March 11 featuring Ireland and West Indies the pitch used will be the one on which Punjab and Tamil Nadu U-19 teams match was held recently.
"For the semi finals here (on March 30), we will be using either of the two tracks on which the league matches are played," he informed.

He said that the boundary length will be 75 m on square of the wicket while 73m straight on from the wicket.

"We have also further improved our indoor practice facilities," he said.
Meanwhile, PCA Joint Secretary, G S Walia said that the South African team will be arriving at Chandigarh tomorrow evening while the Dutch will arrive on Tuesday.
He said for the March 3 tie, 3200 tickets in the 28,000 capacity stadium had been sold and added sales were picking up gradually though initial response had been lukewarm.
On the great rush for tickets at some venues, Walia said that PCA had reserved 15,000-17,000 tickets for the general public including those for the semi-finals.
For the convenience of the fans coming to watch the match, for the first time routes had been printed on tickets which they are supposed to adopt to reach the stadium.