Reports: BCCI probe sought as Chennai curator accused of ignoring team instructions during England's 2021 tour

On a day when India hammered Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs in the first Test match of the two-match series in Mohali, some uncomfortable findings have come out in connection with the Test series that India played at home against England last year.

It has been revealed that the curator of the pitch at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on which the first game of the four-match series was played in February 2021 did not follow the instructions that were given by the home team management, including former head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun, about the playing surface and it made the home team pay dearly.

According to a report made by the Times of India, those who were hit by the curator appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India were willing to speak out on the matter had the board sought an investigation.

England won the match by 227 runs with their captain Joe Root slamming 218 and spinners Jack Leach and Dom Bess taking 11 wickets. India, who were led by Virat Kohli, came back strongly to win the remaining three matches to win the series 3-1.

‘Shastri, Arun asked curator to not water, roll the pitch’

“Ravi Shastri and Bharat Arun were at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk on the evening of February 4, a day before the start of the Test against England. The head coach and the bowling coach explicitly told the curator and the groundsmen that the pitch should be left the way it is, and the water and roller should not be used. Having conveyed it with absolute clarity, they left the stadium with the rest of the team,” The Times quoted sources who were present on the ground that evening as saying.

However, it was also reported that once Shastri and Arun left, the curator told the groundsmen that he had been “asked” by a “higher authority” to water the pitch and roll it. The man reportedly did it without being questioned by the local groundsmen who have no such authority to counter instructions.

It has been sought that the BCCI should investigate who called up the curator that evening.

According to sources, the curator watered and rolled the pitch and it became a flat deck next morning. England won the toss and elected to bat and Root capitalised on the surface to score a 377-ball double century to propel the visitors to a mammoth 578.

The Indian team management was reportedly livid with the curator for ignoring their instructions and the latter was accused of doing it deliberately. One of the informed sources called the act an “extremely serious misdemeanour”.

The management then spoke with the BCCI and officially requested to change the curator. Some BCCI officials appointed a senior curator to take over for the second Test but they were not aware of the incident which took place in Chennai, the report added.