Ranji Trophy 2019-20 | Surprised to see Arun Lal’s critical comments on pitch, reveals Mahendra Rajdev

After Arun Lal’s 'scathing' comments over the conditions of play in the ongoing final, the head curator of the home venue rebutted Lal’s criticism by saying that the pitch made was in no way poor. Lal’s comments were made after day one of the encounter, with too many balls keeping low for the batsmen. He also added that it was prepared under the guidance and supervision of the neutral curator sent by the BCCI. 

On day one, it was the Bengal bowlers who made the fullest use of the conditions, with Vishvaraj Jadeja’s dismissal coming off a ball that bounced low. Additionally, the two-bounced wicket at Rajkot proved to be a tricky battle for the home side, who trudged their way to 206/5 at end of opening day’s play at Rajkot. Rajdev also added that just because there was low bounce, it did not allow Lal to make such a statement. 

“I was surprised to see the rather critical statement of Arun Lal, the Bengal team coach and mentor after the first day’s play when Bengal held the upper hand. The pitch may not have had extra bounce which Bengal bowlers were looking for, but that does not make the wicket poor,” he said. 

To add to that, the conditions continued to be tricky for the batsmen on top of the late-swing that was curated for the bowlers. On top of that, he also revealed that talking about the condition of the pitch will not help the Bengal side when they come out to bat. 

“It is a rather hasty and poor judgment by the Bengal coach and it may not be beneficial for their own players when the coach makes a statement like this," he concluded.