Bhowmick to oversee Ranji pitch preparation

KOLKATA: BCCI East Zone curator Ashish Bhowmick will be assisting CAB curator Sujan Mukherjee in the pitch preparation work for the Bengal vs Goa Ranji Trophy match which will begin at the Eden Gardens from Saturday. The BCCI and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) were involved in some war of words over the role of neutral curator SB Singh, who was sent to oversee Bengal’s last home match against Vidarbha at Kalyani.While Singh complained to BCCI about CAB curator Sujan Mukherjee’s non-cooperative attitude, the CAB also wrote to BCCI seeking clarification about the role and work area of a neutral curator.
With Mukherjee preferring to stay aloof, it was Singh who prepared the Kalyani pitch, which was not to the liking of the home side. Incidentally Bengal lost that match too.
However, the pitch turned out to be a pretty sporting one producing an outright result with Vidarbha scoring 499 runs batting first and both the pacers and spinners getting wickets.
But BCCI this time decided to post Bhowmick, instead of Singh who was previously supposed to come down for this match, to oversee the preparation work. Bhowmick, who is a known face in the CAB, has worked with both Mukherjee and previous CAB curator Prabir Mukherjee at the Eden Gardens.
Bhowmick thus stayed back in Kolkata after being involved in the pitch preparation work for the first Test between India and Sri Lanka that concluded at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
The Bengal-Goa Ranji match will be held in pitch No. 3, which was kept in standby for the Test match.