Indian Premier League’s cricket committee chairman Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi on Sunday inspected the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium and expressed satisfaction with the remedial work done on the pitch.
Mr. Pataudi said he was confident that the IPL matches will be held successfully at the venue which was banned for a year due to the “unfit” pitch.
DDCA’s pitches and grounds committee chairman Venkat Sundaram, who is overseeing the remedial work of the pitch at Kotla, told PTI that Pataudi had expressed “satisfaction” with the conditions.
“Pataudi had a look at the pitch, the outfield and the practice arrangements here at the stadium and expressed satisfaction,” Mr. Sundaram said.
“He is happy with the work done here and expressed confidence that matches will be played out well during the Indian Premier League,” he added.
Ever since it was banned from hosting international matches, Kotla has been racing against time to be match-fit before the third Indian Premier League.
Delhi Daredevils COO Amrit Mathur, meanwhile, said two practice matches would be held at the Kotla ground between a local team and the Daredevils to check the pitch and also give the players a feel of the conditions.
“Two weeks before the tournaments starts, two practice matches will be held at this track on March 5 and 7. It will be an opportunity to give the players a feel of the conditions and also prove the pitch is of international standards,” Mr. Mathur said.
The Kotla pitch was declared unfit by the ICC following the abandonment of last December’s India-Sri Lanka ODI after 23.4 overs.
The BCCI later appealed against the suspension which was turned down.
Earlier ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson had also expressed satisfaction with the remedial work done on the pitch and had blamed the DDCA for the fiasco.
