{"id":42255,"date":"2017-10-27T19:53:13","date_gmt":"2017-10-28T02:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=42255"},"modified":"2017-10-27T19:53:13","modified_gmt":"2017-10-28T02:53:13","slug":"pune-pitch-curator-sacked-after-tampering-claims-in-tv-sting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/pune-pitch-curator-sacked-after-tampering-claims-in-tv-sting\/","title":{"rendered":"Pune Pitch Curator Sacked After Tampering Claims in TV Sting"},"content":{"rendered":"

M.S. Dhoni inspects the pitch ahead of the 2nd ODI cricket match against New Zealand in Pune, Maharashtra, Oct. 25. (Shashank Parade\/PTI)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The specter of corruption returned to haunt Indian cricket with the BCCI suspending Pune stadium\u2019s pitch curator just hours before the second India-New Zealand ODI, Oct. 25, after he consented to tampering with the track in a TV sting operation.<\/p>\n

\n

In the sting operation by India Today TV, curator Pandurang Salgaoncar was seen and heard speaking to an undercover reporter, who posed as a bookie, while standing on the pitch of the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.<\/p>\n

However, the Oct. 25 match, second of a three-game series, went ahead as scheduled after an ICC observer approved the track following an inspection. Maharashtra Cricket Association President Abhay Apte made the announcement barely half an hour before the toss.<\/p>\n

The 68-year-old Salgaoncar was seen agreeing to tamper with the pitch to suit the requirements put forth by the reporter. India Today TV said the video was shot last evening.<\/p>\n

It is not clear how Salgaoncar, a former pacer and one-time India prospect, could have tweaked the pitch with just a few hours to go before the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cPandurang Salgaoncar has been suspended from the Maharashtra Cricket Association\u2019s curator\u2019s post with immediate effect,\u201d BCCI acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary told PTI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MCA has also suspended Salgaoncar from all other positions in the association. An inquiry Commission will also be constituted by MCA. At BCCI, we reiterate that we have zero tolerance towards any corrupt activity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"
ICC match referee Chris Broad with Indian coach Ravi Shastri ahead of the ODI cricket match between India and new Zealand in Pune, Oct. 25. (Shashank Parade\/PTI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This was reiterated in a statement issued later by the BCCI in which Ramesh Mhamunkar was named the point person for the center wicket and the field of play for the second ODI between India and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Committee of Administrators (COA) chief Vinod Rai, on the other hand, defended the BCCI\u2019s anti-corruption unit, saying a three-member team can only do as much.<\/p>\n

\u201cACU (headed by former cop Neeraj Kumar) has only three people so they can\u2019t be everywhere,\u201d Rai said.<\/p>\n

In the BCCI statement, Rai added: \u201cWe are looking into the issue and in contact with the concerned officials. We have asked for a detailed report and will act upon it accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

What has left senior BCCI officials baffled is that Salgaoncar allowed a self-confessed bookie to accompany him to the main match pitch. Under BCCI rules no unaccredited persons, including journalists, are allowed near the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) under Neeraj Kumar will have some answering to do. Here a random man comes, doesn\u2019t have an all-access area pass and is taken to the main pitch by the curator,\u201d a BCCI official said.<\/p>\n

Asked if the ACU unit should be answerable as to how an outsider got access to the pitch, Chaudhary said, \u201c…everyone associated with the ACU would be answerable. In any case, a very select few have access to the center of the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

When contacted, BCCI acting President C K Khanna said he is writing a mail to Kumar so that his team gives an update on the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pity that both former MCA President Ajay Shirke and current president Abhay Apte had helped Salgaoncar have a career after retirement. He gets Rs. 65,000 salary per month from the MCA and also a BCCI pension. He is among BCCI\u2019s independent curators. We are feeling bad for both Abhay and Ajay. Salgaoncar let them down badly,\u201d added an official.<\/p>\n

Salgaoncar, a former Maharashtra speedster, was considered a genuine India prospect in early and mid \u201870s.<\/p>\n

He toured with the Indian team for an unofficial series against Sri Lanka back in 1974. Sunil Gavaskar\u2019s autobiography \u2018Sunny Days\u2019 mentions him as being a genuine prospect who was unlucky not to don national colors.<\/p>\n

The former pacer took 214 wickets in 63 first-class games.<\/p>\n

The Pune pitch had been under the spotlight earlier as well. It had been rated poor by the ICC after an India- Australia Test match in February.<\/p>\n

The Australians had hammered India by 333 runs on a turner where the home team was bowled out for 105 and 107 in two innings. The game had ended in three days.<\/p>\n

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly also expressed his shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how he can tweak the pitch in one day and prepare it accordingly for a bookie. I don\u2019t know in what context he was saying this,\u201d Ganguly said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M.S. Dhoni inspects the pitch ahead of the 2nd ODI cricket match against New Zealand in Pune, Maharashtra, Oct. 25. (Shashank Parade\/PTI) The specter of corruption returned to haunt Indian cricket with the BCCI suspending Pune stadium\u2019s pitch curator just hours before the second India-New Zealand ODI, Oct. 25, after he consented to tampering with…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":42221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[1417,95,4195,4196,147,94],"class_list":["post-42255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bcci","tag-cricket","tag-india-vs-new-zealand","tag-pitch-tampering","tag-siliconeer","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}