Women set to venture in the world of pitch-making

Preparing the pitch for a cricket match is a fine-art. At the same time, it is also one of the most demanding jobs in the stream. The pitch curators are under the scanner at all times and there is tremendous pressure on them to meet the expectations. The profile all this while has been a male-dominated one. However, women are gradually venturing into the trade and learning the craft of pitch curation.

The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) recently conducted a certification course for the ground and pitch preparation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. This committee was headed by Mr Daljit Singh and his colleagues from different zones. This course was held from July 16 to July 29 with a total of 29 candidates who attended the event two of which were women.

Women to take part in the process of pitch making

Jacintha Kalyan, the assistant curator at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and Sivangi Ghosh of Odisha attended the training. As per BCCI’s directive, every state association was supposed to send one representative for the course. The eligibility criteria varied from being a first-class cricketer to having five years of experience as a curator or holding a degree in agriculture/ horticulture.

Kalyan is a former office worker from the Karnataka State Cricket Association. Furthermore, she has more than five years of experience in this field. On the other hand, Ghosh is a horticulture graduate and is looking after her father’s horticulture business.

“This is good news that women are getting into pitch-making. With the number of matches also going up, it is good that the women are also part of preparing a pitch, which only men did earlier,” a top board official told TOI on Tuesday.

The season, the BCCI is gearing up to host almost 2000 domestic games that will be staged across various tournaments in men’s and women’s cricket.

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