DINDIGUL: ON a blistering Tuesday afternoon, the NPR College campus in Natham was being quite the sport, that too in a very literal sense. At the college gate was Vishnu Vishal, a former league cricketer who has now cemented his place in Kollywood with sports-based movies like Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu and Jeeva.
Seated behind the dolly-mounted camera that was collecting footage for the actor’s next silverscreen outing — titled Kavarimaan Parambarai — was another connection to the world of sport: Jwala Gutta, a guest at the shooting spot.
But, a 100-odd metres away from all this was where sport — cricket, to be precise — was at the forefront. Even as players from four Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) teams went about braving a searing sun during their respective practice sessions, groundsmen were busy applying finishing touches to the ground. After all, the city’s favourite, jazzed-up avatar of cricket was just a day away, with home team Dindigul Dragons taking on Lyca Kovai Kings.
And, those in charge of readying the venue for this TNPL’s Dindigul leg have left no stone unturned. “As compared to Tirunelveli (the ICL ground in Sankar Nagar saw quite a few enhancements this year), this ground has most of its infrastructure already in place,” remarked R Karthikeyan, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) curator who is overseeing preparations. “Hence, we’ve devoted most of our efforts to the outfield and its periphery.”
Perhaps it’s the stone plaque at the ground which says “World Class Cricketing Turf” — installed during the venue’s inauguration by Gautam Gambhir, four years ago — or perhaps it’s the substantial boost in the number of matches being hosted here, but Karthikeyan’s and his team’s motivation is quite evident in the way this outfield has shaped up. That fact, unsurprisingly, was corroborated by iDream Karaikudi Kaalai pacer Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, who deemed it as “one of the best in Tamil Nadu”.
“We’ve tried to make it more spongy by layering it intermittently with sand. It makes the outfield faster as well,” explained the curator. “Also, we’ve done extensive spiking, which helps in aeration. Fielders will not have to worry about putting their bodies on the line.”
Mitigation of injuries isn’t the only base that has been covered over these past two months at this venue. Since rain tends to jump up the pecking order of match-halters in this region during this period, drainage has been given special emphasis.
“The sand-layering in itself helps in increased water absorption. And, the east side of this ground has a natural slope, which allows for surface runoff towards the vast expanse of land behind the ground,” elaborated Karthikeyan. “The west end, on the other hand, has a basketball court behind it. So, we had to improvise a rain-water-harvesting-like set-up to better drainage on that side. That involves PVC pipes inserted between small rocks, beneath grass. All these pipes funnel water to a collection chamber on the other end of the campus, that’s been equipped with a 1kW motor for suction. Water then flows out into drainage from there.”
“We’ve also dug trident-like furrows behind the ropes to channel more water into this drainage system. If it does rain, then we may end up using the Supersoppers thrice instead of ten times.”
Sale of tickets
Tickets for matches from July 18 to 25 that will be held at NPR College will be sold at the venue itself, and at the college’s administrative office. Tickets will be sold from 10am to 5pm.
rahulravi@newindianexpress.com