Veteran BCCI curator calls it a day after 25 years of service

Veteran Indian curator, PR Viswanathan, has called it a day to his career as the professional curator for the BCCI. The veteran curator served the BCCI for over a decade. His career as a curator, though, lasted for almost 25 years. As per the recent reports on the official website of the BCCI, Viswanathan retired from service.

He recalled that he was a graduate but his business did not go well. He soon started working on tracks and then started his career as a curator. He started off by working with the Andhra Cricket Association, wherein he worked at Vizag and Vijayawada.

“I was in a business which did not go well. I had a background in Botany and was a post graduate in the subject, so I was doing a bit of landscaping work. At the time Chemplast wanted a ground prepared for them and I took the job. From there on it started. It has been about 25 years now,” PR Viswanathan quoted.

“I prepared the grounds for Chemplast, India Cements, MRF, India Pistons etc. After about 10 to 12 grounds, I worked for Andhra Cricket Association. I did the initial work for the new stadium that they have now at Vizag and also Vijayawada. I did a good deal of work for Andhra. Once I took it up seriously, I left all the other things and focused on it,” he added further.

On his first assignment with BCCI

Viswanathan still remembers the first assignment he had with the BCCI. He mentioned that it was during the 2002-03 season in which he made his debut for the Indian board. The visiting New Zealand side were scheduled to play an ODI in Chennai. The BCCI asked him to take care of the track.

“I think it was around 2002-03 when New Zealand came to India and there was an ODI to be played a day before Diwali (in Chennai). It had been raining very heavily for more than a week, so I covered the ground completely. From then on I started working with the BCCI,” PR Viswanathan recalled.

The toughest assignment

When asked to rewind on the toughest assignment he has had in his career, PR Viswanathan mentioned that preparing a track at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium for an India vs South Africa encounter was the toughest. The primary reason for the assignment to be a tough one was the fact that it had been raining on the venue. The groundsmen and the curators worked really hard and used every idea they had to get the wicket match ready in about a couple of days.

From using charcoal to rolling up the tracks with hot wheels, the team of the curators did it all. In fact, they even managed to get the track match ready. The match referee had a look at it and he was very pleased with the efforts. The match got a green signal. Much to the disappointment, the match had to be called off as it started to rain on the match day as well.

“The match was on 14th and I landed there on the 11th and India were to play South Africa. I had given instructions for rolling but just after two days of rolling, it started raining so nothing could be done about it. We started working but as we would remove the covers, it would start raining. Mr. Brijesh Patel from KSCA who was watching all this said, “Vishy can we do something and cover the ground?” A complete canopy extending almost 20 feet behind the wicket and either side was put up,” recalled the veteran curator.

“Then from 1 pm in the afternoon till 10 pm in the night, we moved hot trolleys over the pitch, burnt charcoal, made hot plates and used them for six – seven hours. Then next day we came at 6 AM and the wicket was made. The match referee Jeff Crowe said that it was ready. Unfortunately, day and was rained off,” he added.

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