No Ranji ties in Bengaluru

For the second straight season, there will be no Ranji Trophy matches here at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

With the concept of neutral venues scrapped for this edition, Bengaluru was expected to host Karnataka’s home games but with the Karnataka State Cricket Association deciding to “relay” the pitch at the Chinnaswamy, there will not be any matches here.

The installation of sub-air system at the stadium had prevented any domestic game being held here last season. While two games were held in Mysuru, Hubballi and Belagavi hosted a game each.

Vinay Mruthyunjaya, spokesperson, KSCA, told DH that the first game will be held in Mysuru (vs Assam) while the next two will take place in Shivamogga (vs Hyderabad) and Hubballi (Delhi). There is also a request from the team to conduct the last home match in Bengaluru.

Sudhakar Rao, secretary, KSCA, said that the work on relaying of the pitch will begin after the fourth ODI between India and Australia at the Chinnaswamy on September 28.

“It will be a three-four month project and we will start after the fourth ODI. We haven’t relayed the pitch here for more than 40 years. This time we have got good clay and we are confident of preparing a pitch that will last for at least 30 years,” Rao said.

However, the fact is that the pitch was relaid in 2004 with a New Zealand firm executing the task, using the two-layered technology. 

While the relaying of the pitch may have been long overdue, the other reason could be the drastic change in its nature since the outfield was relaid to incorporate the state-of-the-art sub-air system. It can be recalled that the pitch here for the second Test between India and Australia in early March this year was rated “below average” by match referee Chris Broad for its inconsistent bounce.

Even during the following Indian Premier League, Chinnaswamy saw consistently low scores in stark contrast to the high totals it had witnessed in the previous editions. The reason attributed for this change in behaviour of the pitch was the reduction in its thickness. The profile of the soil had been reduced by about seven percent that had led to variable bounce which in turn had made run-making a difficult proposition. The latest course correction, it is believed, is to rectify this short-coming.       

Karnataka are in Group A alongside Delhi, Assam, Maharashtra, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh and Railways.