Meet the Pitch Expert: Ram Karan (Shradhanand College Ground)

Cricket is played on a 22 yard strip commonly known as a “pitch”. Nothing new! But have you ever wondered why in every international and domestic match and for that matter even in local cricket, there is ample focus on this strip?

Everyone talks about turning pitches, hard and bouncy pitches and flat tracks but have you ever wondered how such different types of pitches are created?

The people who create this “22 yard strip” are The Pitch Curators. Whatever different nature of pitches exist around the world, whether in international or domestic grounds, they require a lot of maintenance and hard work by the pitch curators in order to make them match-fit and last the duration of the match.

Focussing on local cricket, we met Ram Karan, pitch curator of Shradhanand College Ground, Delhi University and tried to understand the basics of pitch making.

He explains the process in brief as follows:

“After digging, first we put hard gravel followed by soft gravel, 6 inches each. Post that it is levelled and sand is filled. After putting the bricks, black soil to the height of 1-1.5 feet is put in and levelled. The pitch is thoroughly rolled. What we have created here is a hard wicket. It has a lot of cracks.”

He guarantees 200 overs without the use of spikes and is very much confident about his work.

But it’s not only about creating the pitch. What’s more important is the maintenance and that is where the curator’s expertise is the most important. It’s high time the pitch curators get their due, especially on local grounds as it is because of them that the cricketers get a base to play and create a name for themselves. Without them, cricket cannot exist, literally. It is “the platform” we always talk about.

Keep following CricketGraph for further insights into local cricket.

Article by

Sumanyu Jain

Regional Manager & Editor @CricketGraph