- By Manan Vaya
- Wed, 04 Oct 2023 08:02 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Jamnagar | The ODI World Cup 2023 in India will be witnessing the use of Anti-Dew Spray to avoid the impact of dew in the matches.
Nowadays, the matches have been seen depending much on the nature of the outfield of the ground as the dew factor comes into play to affect the result of the matches massively.
This is the reason why captains prefer to opt to bowl first after winning the toss, especially in white-ball cricket.
It has almost become a new normal that you win the toss you win the match with the dew factor coming into the play in later part of the match that helps the team batting second while chasing the target.
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For tackling such dependency of match results on the dew, an Anti-Dew Spray technique is all set to be used in the ODI World Cup 2023 that starts on Thursday, October 5 (tomorrow) in India.
In an exclusive discussion with Jagran.com, the former BCCI pitch curator Dhiraj Parsana shed light on the need and use of the Anti-Dew Spray technique in cricket
The beginning of the use of Anti-Dew Spray
"As far as I remember, ICC decided to use the Anti-Dew Spray during an ICC tournament back in 2006. This technique was used in the match between Pakistan and New Zealand that was played in Mohali. So let's first get familiar with the need to use the Anti-Dew Spray. The ball tends to travel faster on the field that has due on it and it comes onto the bat pretty well also. This creates a few problems for the bowling side as they suffer while gripping the ball with fielders facing issues in the outfield as well. With these issues, somewhere match takes the shape of one-sided contest with the batting side getting enough assistance in the second part of the match. So to tackle those situations, the Anti-Dew Spray first came into play in international cricket."
How the Anti-Dew Spray is used?
"The second part of this year's World Cup in India will be played during the time of arrival of the winter season in the country. During that time, it's a common thing to witness the dew. The best way to use this is by cutting the grass by 10-12mm a couple of days before the match. A mapping has to be done on the morning of the match while using the spray on the ground. It has to be noted that the dew comes from both the sky and the ground. The adhesive of this spray sticks to grass which leads to the gliding of the droplets from the grass to inside the ground. That's why the use of Anti-Dew Spray is an effective thing to use to tackle dew."
Why the soil of Odisha and Mumbai has been used on Motera pitch?
"I am in the United States at the moment and haven't been to Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium for a while. But I do know that Mumbai has red soil while Odisha has black soil.
It totally depends on the curator that how much time he gives the pitch to be prepared with such change or how early or late they use that. The wicket prepared by mixing the soil of Mumbai and Odisha leads to the amount of 75% red soil and 25% black soil used.
So I feel that the average score in the matches in Ahmedabad will be something around 280 to 290 runs."
Dhiraj Parsana was included in the USA Hall of Fame archive. He was felicitated for his contribution to preparing the pitches in almost every cricketing nation for almost three decades. He is the first Indian pitch curator to be awarded with such honor.
Dhiraj Parsana wants to train more pitch curators
"Whatever I have today in my life is all because of cricket. I want to contribute to the game as well. So I have decided to help those who want to emerge in this field of learning and get trained to become better pitch curators. I am keen to help those free of cost."
