Fans in for a run feast during second ODI at Rajkot

Rajkot, Feb 9 (UNI) Cricket fans here are in for a feast of runs if the curator is to be believed when India take on Sri Lanka in the second one-day international to be played at the Madhavrao Scindia cricket ground here on February 11.

''It will be full of runs as in one-day cricket that's the way a wicket needs to be prepared. I do not agree with Daljitbhai (pitch curator in Mohali Stadium of Punjab) on this subject. A one-day wicket should not provide too much sideway movements,'' Dhiraj Parsana, a BCCI Pitches and Grounds Committee member, said.

Parsana said he has been here for the last eight days overseeing the preparations of the wicket by the ground's curator Rasik Makwana.

With the sun baking predicted for the next 48 hours or so before the start of the tie, it should become a good batting surface.

Parsana also said that the BCCI Pitches and Grounds Committee's work over the last few years are bearing fruit now and gave the example of the wicket here to support his argument.

''We want our domestic cricketers to learn to play on more helpful (for bowlers) surfaces with more bounce and the Ranji ties held here this season have been held on such surfaces,'' he pointed out.

Supporting his view, Makana (pitch curator) said, ''I prepared a wicket with 5 mm of grass for Saurashtra first tie here and our captain took a wrong decision on winning the toss against Baroda and we lost.'' ''For the second match, I cut the grass a little more and still we lost (against Andhra),'' he added.

UNI