“Acche se accha pitch banake de taki player ko kuch problem na ho, yahi humara kam hai” – Ramu Kaka, United Cricketers Curator
Cricketers who are passionate about the game work hard in nets. Some of them start the net session in early morning while some take it till late in the afternoon. But there is someone who wakes up before them, reaches ground and ensures the smooth conduct of a practice session or a match. It’s none other than the curator of those 22 yards where cricket is actually played. Ramu Kaka who is doing curatorship for United cricketers club talks about his experience over the years.
“I joined the club as a curator back in 1991. Things were a lot different then. We had no tool nor the proper soil to make the pitch. In the outfield during kanga league matches the grass was denser and ball often used to get lost in it. Things are lot better now. We are having good tools to work with. We are getting soil from the MCA and the outfield is now much clearer. Acche se accha pitch banake de taki player ko kuch problem na ho, yahi humara kam hai,” said the curator.
The work for preparing pitches starts much before the actual beginning of season. The season kicks off with Kanga league in September end but the work for preparing pitch starts in June itself. “As the season ends in May we make sure that all things are in place which we will be needing to make a new square. In June we start the work by digging the square. After that we let the rain do its work. It’s a bit complicated process but one gets used to it after doing it for so many years. Our mentor Mr.Godbole provides us everything we want. Now because of change in structure of tournament the wickets are quite dry at the start of Kanga league as the rainy season almost ends by that time, “Said Ramu Kaka.
His expertise in curatorship had made him earn an award for best pitch for two consecutive years. In 2002 and 2003 the pitch prepared by him was selected as best pitch during the times shield and he received the award from Mr.Chandu Borde. “Nature of the pitch depends on rolling and watering. Pitch should be evenly rolled to get a proper bounce. Also less water makes it too dry and more water makes it sloppy. There should be adequate amount of water used while preparing a pitch. We create pitches according to demand. Some want a green pitch while some are looking for a pata wicket. Same thing applies to practice wickets. It is well known that a grassy pitch favors the bowler. Mostly during Kanga league pitches have a grass on the top. We usually expect heavy runs by batsman on a pata wicket,” said Ramu kaka.
“When any player or captain goes to inspect the pitch, they try to test it using their fingers. Most of the time it’s the figure that gets pressed and not the pitch. They do wrong assumption based on this that the wicket is little moist and it might keep low. To test a wicket before a match one should use coin or keys.”
Over the years he has seen so many players coming to ground and perfecting their technique in the nets. “After watching so many player now I get to know what kind of player he is just by having a look at his technique. I still remember Zaheer Khan when he used to come at Oval maidan for practice Net me bowling dalte waqt har 6 ball me 3-4 wicket to nikal hi deta tha. Players like Ketan Panchal, Bhavesh Patel who are from our club have went to play in Ranji trophy,”said Ramu Kaka
Ramu kaka has also made pitches for National Cricket Club and for Worali Cricket Club. On every Monday of week the rest day is there when no matches are played and he takes care of the outfield. In the end Ramu kaka tells an important mantra for preparing a good pitch. “As I said, Pitch should be rolled properly and should not remain porous. That’s the key thing to prepare a good pitch”