The International Cricket Council (ICC) has fashioned a 'protocol' for curators across venues in India for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 to reduce the impact of dew and ensure that the impact of the toss is reduced to an extent.
The World Cup 2023 will begin on October 5 with the final to be played on November 19 and most of the venues for the tournament are expected to be affected by heavy dew as the majority of the matches are day-night encounters.
Although the conditions in India are often better for spin, the ICC has encouraged curators to leave as much grass on the grounds as possible to keep seamers in the game. This will mean that teams will be keen to have more seamers in the playing XI.
"Venues in the northern, western, and eastern states of India are likely to witness heavy dew at this time of year. Matches in Chennai and maybe Bengaluru are likely to see a decent amount of rain. The main idea is to keep the toss out of the equation as much as possible. Dew largely impacts the performance of spinners. With more grass, teams will not have to depend as much on spinners. That will also help in having true surfaces. And ODI games don't need to see very high scores to be interesting," a source told the Times of India.
To maintain a balance between bat and ball, it has been suggested that stadiums should have the maximum possible boundary size and ICC has instructed to maintain boundary sizes of around 70 meters.
"The minimum size of boundaries for international matches is 65 meters and the maximum is 85 meters. The old centers have a boundary size of around 70-75 meters. It has been suggested that boundaries should be kept more than 70 meters. The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) has also directed curators to use a wetting agent that the board and ICC have standardized. Most venues these days use similar wetting agents. But now the board has directed every center to not use any other wetting agent than what has been prescribed," sources said.
The Indian team would prefer to play on pitches assisting spinners against Australia and England. Their match against Australia in Chennai on October 8 is not expected to be affected by dew.
However, their encounter against England on October 29 in Lucknow will see curators being challenged to provide a balanced pitch to play on and deal with dew.
(Times of India inputs)
