Eden Gardens curator promises sporting wicket ahead of second Test

Indian team enjoys a healthy record at the Eden Gardens with nine out of eleven Test wins played at the venue © Getty Images

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

 

By CricketCountry Staff

 

Kolkata: Nov 11, 2011

 

Curator of Eden Gardens pitch, Prabir Mukherjee has promised to produce a sporting wicket ahead of the second Test in Kolkata.

 

He was quoted in Indian Express as saying, “Any interference and I will walk. No one has told me anything because everyone knows that I won’t be listening to them.”

 

Mukherjee said if a team requires a pitch of desired nature, then it needs to formally inform the same to him ahead of the Test match.

 

He said,” If the team wants a made-to-order wicket, then they will have to inform me in writing. This is true for the board officials as well. There will be grass on the wicket to ensure even bounce and some lateral movement.

 

“I am not going to produce a rank turner as it is against the spirit of the game.”

 

Indian team enjoys a healthy record at the Eden Gardens with nine out of eleven Test wins played at the venue. Moreover most of these have come on the ultimate day of the Test match.

 

Mukherjee, while recollecting an incident a year ago when he declined producing turning pitch to Sachin Tendulkar for a Test against South Africa said he would not entertain any special requests from any player for a one-sided pitch.

 

“Before that Test, Sachin asked me to shave off the grass. I told him that I respect him as a player and he should also have respect for my job,” added Mukherjee.

 

But the recent pitch he produced during the India-England one-off T20 was much criticised from all quarters but the curator isn’t ready to accept the criticism.

 

He said, “It’s always easy to blame the wicket to cover up your own faults.”

 

India take on West Indies in the second Test on November 14 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.