KSCA clinches best IPL-9 venue award

Bagalkote clay to be used to prepare pitches

 For the second year in a row, the Karnataka State Cricket Association has been declared the venue wi­th best ground and pitch in the Indian Premier League.

Each year two venues, which will have hosted a minimum of seven matches, are chosen for this award. While they shared the honour with Mumbai Cricket Association the previous year, Hyderabad Cricket Association bagged the honour jointly this time.

The parameters to assess the standard of the venue include quality of outfield, practice facilities provided to visiting sides, the stadium’s preparedness to protect the playing area from rain and its ability to start match at short notice. The match referee for each tie will get feedback from players before awarding points. The main area of his focus though will be the pitch, which is awarded the maximum points based on its quality for a T20 match.

The M Chinnaswamy stadium, which witnessed as many as four innings of 200 or more totals this season, had little competition in that respect. The lightening fast outfield too contributed in enhancing its reputation.

Bagalkote clay

The KSCA, meanwhile, is mulling to import the clay available in and around Bagalkote after the tests found it to be of better quality, according to KSCA assistant curator Prashant Rao. The KSCA has tested around 25 samples of clay from various regions in Karnataka and has zeroed in on the soil in the north-east Karnataka region.

KSCA, in its 13-pitch square, currently uses three pitches for international matches. The Mandya clay has been used to prepare the centre square, which was used for the IPL final on Sunday that saw a combined total of 408 runs, while the other two are made up of soil from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.