Shiv Kumar was not a designated pitch curator at the Green Park: RP Singh

RP Singh, former cricketer and the director of Uttar Pradesh sports government on Wednesday made it clear that Shiv Kumar, who until recently worked as a pitch curator at Kanpur’s Green Park stadium, was assigned the work of an electrician cum tubewell operator initially. Nobody has given him the duty of a pitch curator which he called himself to be.

The UP police in collaborated with the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the arrest of bookies who tried to tamper the Kanpur pitch hours before the game between Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils, and has sent Kumar to Ghazipur from Kanpur.

Kumar was designated a tubewell operator and electrician at Green Park 

“Shiv Kumar was deputed as electrician cum tubewell operator. The UP government never designated him as pitch curator but he himself started performing curator’s duties. On paper, it was not the case. The UP government decided to transfer him because he was posted at the Green Park Stadium, Kanpur for past 15 years,” Singh told PTI.

But the question was the ignorance of the concerned authority. How did nobody make out that someone was doing a job he was not assigned in the first place. When asked this, Singh gave a diplomatic answer.

“What can UP government do if someone considers himself a curator?”

Later it was also known from sources that Kumar showed interest in pitch preparations, which is why the UP Cricket Association sent him for a curator’s training programme because the association already lacked the services of a curator.

Before any game in that venue, be it domestic or international, the captains would seek inputs from Kumar on how the pitch was likely to behave. It will now be interesting to see what the UPCA has to say about this.