‘Struggle ends’ as curator Kumar finds perfect pitch to chase dreams
LUCKNOW : It’s now official. Shiv Kumar is no more an electriciancum-tubewell operator with the Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate and is free to take up the fulltime job of pitch curator.
Kumar, 51, who happens to be one of the top pitch curators of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), was not given a green signal to go on a two-year sabbatical as he was invited by the Bangladesh Cricket Board to become their chief curator.
He has served the department for 16 years, 8 months and 12 days.
After a “long struggle for his passion”, Shiv Kumar has been granted voluntary retirement with effect from July 31.
Though the sports directorate authorities said Kumar sought voluntary retirement on grounds of “poor health”, insiders claimed that ever since his shifting from the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur to Ghazipur in 2016, he was considering to opt for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) as there was no scope left for him to continue his passion for the game, especially the pitch.
“I am a free man and can focus on my passion. I started the curatorship just for fun but soon it became my passion. I did everything to learn the art of pitch management, including field,” Kumar said on Tuesday.
His passion for pitch preparation began when despite being the college captain as a medium pacer at the Government Inter College in Bareilly at the age of 15, he developed the college pitch by his hand as there was no modern equipment then.
Within a year’s time after joining as an electrician at the regional office of the UP Sports Directorate in Allahabad in 2001, Kumar was transferred to Kanpur in 2002 which was like a dream come true for him.
He started upgrading his knowledge under the then BCCI’s pitch and ground committee head Kasturi Rangan when New Zealand Turf Centre brought a scheme of preparing lively pitches in India.
Soon, his skill of preparing good wickets at the Green Park drew everyone’s attention. A Level-1 curator of the BCCI, Kumar prepared pitch for over 200 matches, including two dozen international matches at the Kanpur’s Green Park stadium in the last 15 years.
He was picked up by the BCCI to prepare lively pitches in Bangladesh in April this year.
However, his request to the state government for this international assignment just for two years did not receive a response and he was allegedly compelled to request for VRS.
“Now, it’s a matter of past. I am not blaming anyone for this. But I am happy that now can live my passion without any hurdle,” said Kumar.
He has done certification courses from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) as well as the BCCI. He had also topped the BCCI’s certification course examination in 2015. In 2004, he independently prepared his first pitch on his own during the India-South Africa Test.
“That was my first. I was excited as well as apprehensive on all the five days as I would have been blamed in my first mission, had something gone wrong,” recalled Kumar.