BCCI sacks Pune pitch curator after TV expose

PITCH FIXING IN THE PAST

THE CHANNEL SAID THE CURATOR PREDICTED A HIGHSCORING MATCH WITH THE TEAM BATTING FIRST SCORING 337

NEW DELHI: BCCI on Wednesday dismissed the pitch curator for the second ODI against New Zealand hours before the match after a TV sting, in which reporters allegedly posed as bookies, claimed he had agreed to tamper with the wicket.

The curator, Pandurang Salgaonkar, is a former Maharashtra pace bowler who, in the early 1970s, was regarded as one of the country’s fastest and a national team prospect. Salgaonkar, 68, played 63 first-class matches, claiming 214 wickets at an average of 26.70. He toured with the Indian team for an unofficial series against Sri Lanka in 1974.

The BCCI action came after India Today TV broadcast the video, claiming Salgaonkar allowed the ‘bookies’ to walk on the pitch and agreed to alter it according to their demand.

Hindustan Times could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. Repeated calls to Salgaonkar’s phone went unanswered. The BCCI in a statement announced Salgaonkar, a veteran pitch curator, has been dismissed by the Maharashtra Cricket Association and Ramesh Mhamunkar, a BCCI curator present in Pune as an observer, appointed to supervise the pitch for the match. There were some doubts whether the match would be held, but it went ahead as scheduled after International Cricket Council (ICC) Match Referee, Chris Broad, inspected the pitch and gave his approval.

The ICC said it would probe the matter. “We’re investigating the allegations from Pune,” an ICC spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying. “The ICC Anticorruption Unit has an ACU manager on the ground and we are in close contact with him. We are now looking to establish the facts…”

The Pune pitch prepared by Salgaonkar had faced criticism in February after the first Test against Australia, which India lost, ended in three days. The ICC ruled the track ‘poor’ after 31 of the 40 wickets fell to spinners.

The channel claimed Salgaonkar predicted a high-scoring match with the team batting first scoring 337 and the total being chased down. Former BCCI West Zone chief curator, Dhiraj Parsana, a former India spinner, rejected the suggestion Salgaonkar could have agreed to fix a game, saying he might have only tried to satisfy the journalists’ curiosity. A look at past instances when pitch grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons