Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has decided to play it safe and put the blame on ‘bad batting' rather than on any flaws in the preparation of the pitch which was put in place for the Hyderabad-Maharashtra Ranji Trophy Plate Group ‘B' match last November.
This was the decision taken by HCA top brass in response to ‘summons' issued by BCCI seeking an explanation for the pitch which saw the hosts bundle out for 54 in the second innings and lose the match by an innings and six runs. BCCI was concerned that the four-day match got over in one-and-a-half days.
Scores in the controversial Ranji game were: Hyderabad 124 and 54 all out lost to Maharashtra 184. HCA has also decided to field former India left-arm spinner S. L. Venkatapathi Raju, also a member of BCCI technical panel, to explain the issue before the BCCI on Friday in Mumbai.
Interestingly, it was Maharashtra left-arm spinner Akshay Darekar who was the wrecker-in-chief for Hyderabad with a 13-wicket match haul. “There was no disconcerting bounce in the pitch resulting in any serious injury to any batsman. Simply, it was bad batting,” says a senior HCA official involved in the damage-control exercise.
No complaint lodged
He points out that when Hyderabad was shot out for the lowest score of 21 against Rajasthan two seasons ago in Jaipur, HCA did not lodge any protest taking it as a batting failure. “Low scores can never be a reflection on the capability of the curator (in this case Y. L. Chandrasekhar). Reasons may be plenty, primary one being batting failure,” he asserted.
It was also decided that the curator will not to take any instructions in pitch preparation. This was in light of serious complaints that last-minute instructions were issued by members of the Hyderabad team management “as per their own strategy”.
