The debacle at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Sunday could very well have been avoided. Officials of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) had been warned of such a scenario by at least two officials who have been involved with the preparation of pitches at the centre in the past.
Radhey Shyam, who was in charge of the pitch at the DDCA before it was relaid under the supervision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) pitches committee chief Daljit Singh earlier this year, said he was pretty sure the pitch would behave the way it did.
“I kept warning the DDCA officials that the pitch could prove to be a dangerous one. In fact, even three days before the match, I had suggested that the adjacent strip be prepared. But no one heeded my warning,” said Radhey Shyam.
Venkat Sundaram, a former Delhi skipper who was once in the India reckoning, too said he had been worried about the pitch at the Ferozehah Kotla. “I had written to Arun Jaitley warning him about the preparation of the pitch and also offered my services,” said Sundaram, a former chief of the BCCI’s pitches committee. “But my advice was not heeded,” he said.
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