After the through drubbing of Indian cricket team in Australia and Indian batsmen’s perennial problem to deal with fast and bouncy tracks on foreign tours, the desire to make lively pitches in India could find an answer in the soil of two nondescript villages of Haryana.
The soil of Mayana and Mundal villages of Rothak district has been found with very high clay content in its soil, which is one of the important factors to make bouncy and fast pitches.
This fact was known in Haryana for last many years, but only recently came to national focus during a Ranji trophy match at Lahli stadium in Rohtak, where pitch was laid with soil from these two villages.
During a match, medium pacers picked 25 wickets at the time when Indian cricket team was having a hard time dealing with bouncing tracks of Australia. However, the recognition does not come easy for the soil of these villages, which was used since 2006 when pitch was laid for the first time. Local pitch curator and member of Haryana Cricket Association Aman Kumar said, “Medium pacers always performed very well here since the pitch was laid.”
Recently Himachal Cricket Association also took soil from these villages to lay the pitch of Dharamsala cricket stadium. Mr Kumar says that soil in the area has clay content of 80 per cent, which is very high.