World's third "drop in" pitch to be installed in Kerala

There was some great news for Indian cricket as it was announced that the World’s third “drop in” pitch would be installed in India. After Australia and New Zealand, the "drop-in" cricket pitch will come up at the Kariyavattom Greenfield Stadium in Kerala, it was announced on Monday.

A drop-in cricket pitch is a pitch that is prepared on some other location and is dropped in place before a match begins, allowing the stadium to be used for hosting other events.

"It's going to cost us around Rs 8 crore-Rs 10 crore and... we expect it to be ready next year. When complete, this would be the third venue that has this facility after the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Eden Park in New Zealand. This ground and stadium can be kept going only if we have this facility too," Anil Kumar Pandala, the director of the Kariyavattom Sports Facilities Ltd (KSFL) said.

The announcement came soon after the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) worked out an agreement with KSFL, which manages the stadium which assures the use of the facility for 180 days in a year.

Having been cleared as a venue by both the International Cricket Council (ICC) and World football governing body, FIFA, the stadium was built at a cost of Rs 375 crore and has a seating capacity of 50,000. It is located near the Technopark campus in the city.

Earlier this year, it bagged the David Vickers Award in the "New Venue of the Year" category, beating several stadia around the world.

"Through the new agreement inked by the KCA with the stadium, from now on for the next 11 years, we will use the stadium for 180 days in a year. The last time an international cricket match was hosted in the city was in 1989 and through this, we are hopeful of staging an international match this year and also this would be a venue for the next IPL," KCA President T.C. Mathew said.

"The rules for drop-in pitches is strict and unless we go in for this, this stadium will not bring the returns; a drop-in pitch can be set up in a week's time while the conventional pitches require a minimum of two months," Pandala said.

This stadium is set to be equipped with world class facilities such as an indoor sports arena, club house, guest rooms, convention centre, retail complex and many other facilities.