Bring back local curators in Ranji Trophy, asks Aditya Tare

While the home and away format was brought back in 2017 after much criticism, the BCCI introduced the neutral curator concept in its bid to stop home teams from preparing “designer pitches”.

Aditya Tare doesn’t see anything wrong in having the home advantage.

Mumbai captain Aditya Tare feels that the BCCI should revert to the traditional home and away concept in Ranji Trophy, even when it comes to preparing pitches as it makes the players better-prepared for the higher levels.

While the home and away format was brought back in 2017 after much criticism, the BCCI introduced the neutral curator concept in its bid to stop home teams from preparing “designer pitches”. The board has decided to continue with the experiment in the upcoming season as well.

Tare, however, doesn’t see anything wrong in having the home advantage. “In 2017, the neutral curators did a decent job. I can’t complain about the pitches. But, I also feel that you need to take the local curators into consideration so that the true nature of the pitch is preserved,” Tare said on Thursday.

READ: Ranji Trophy 2018-19: BCCI to continue with neutral curators

“I would also not mind local curators preparing the pitch completely because that gives home advantage to the teams. Also, it makes it a bit more challenging when you go away and play against your strengths.”

The seasoned Mumbai skipper said that local curators are used in international cricket and, therefore, having them in domestic cricket makes them all the more relevant.

“In Test cricket also, you have the home team preparing pitches and the away side has to come and face challenging conditions. Why not have that in domestic cricket?”

“It also adds to the excitement, it adds to the challenge, which you always relish as a First-Class player. It makes you more prepared going forward in your career, it makes you better prepared for the higher levels, including Test cricket,” said Tare, who has played 61 First-Class matches, scoring 3,554 runs at 37.02.

Talking about his career, Tare expressed his disappointment at not being considered for the India A tours since 2013, despite “consistent performances” as a wicket-keeper batsman.

“For the past three-four seasons, I have done well, with both the bat and gloves. Disappointed that I am not part of Duleep Trophy and A squads. A lot of A tours are coming up, but I am not being considered as a potential wicketkeeper-batsman.”

“It is something I need to work on and improve myself every season so that I attract the attention of selectors. Maybe, 600 runs in a season are not good enough. I need to score a lot more,” added the 30-year-old.