With the countdown on for the first edition of the Indian Cricket League, work at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here is happening at war footing. Other than floodlights being installed, the pavilion being renovated, stands and hills being spruced up, the most important factors—which can make or break the tournament —the pitch and the outfield are high on the agenda of the organisers.

Kiran More, a director of the ICL, was at the Stadium today, with two curators. The ICL has appointed Phillip Russell, a curator from Durban (South Africa) and the Mumbai-based curator Nadeem Mamon, and entrusted them with the job of making the main and practice pitches conform to the shortest version of the game: they should be full of runs so as to make the ICL a spectator-friendly event.

Kiran More said: “The pitches will be full of runs. They will generate high scoring games ensuring full entertainment. Our aim is to provide exciting cricket to the spectators and high scoring games will work wonders.”

Last month, the ground had hosted a few matches of the JP Atray Cricket Tournament, which also saw high scoring matches. Ravinder Chopra, a coach at the ground, said: “The pitch here was a good one then. It had pace and the ball carried through to the wicketkeeper pretty well. But it would be for the first time international players will play here. And work is still needed to conform to international standards.”

The boundary line would be at a distance of 70 yards from the pitch. There is also a plan to award more than six runs - it could be nine — if the ball crosses the 80-85 yard mark. That would ensure no contest is over till the last ball is bowled.

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