RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi leg of the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 was an unqualified success in terms of attendance with the Pindi Cricket Stadium providing a great spectacle throughout thanks to bumper crowds thronging through the turnstiles during the seven matches which took place.

But its conclusion almost met with catastrophe when the final fixture here between Islamabad United and Multan Sultans was perilously close to be abandoned following the spate of rain that dogged the majority of the matches staged in this garrison town.

According to reliable sources, Sunday’s nine-over-per-side game would have never taken place at all due to the severely-drenched conditions of the outfield. But the outstanding groundstaff yet again put in huge efforts to make the arena somehow playable.

The lengthy delay to the match — which was officially slated to begin at 2:00 pm — was caused by presence of wet patches spread out at various spots, which needed non-stop remedial measures, carried out by head curator Mohammad Ashraf and his team, before umpires were satisfied that the game could start at 4:15 pm — exactly two-and-a-quarter hours behind schedule.

When contacted by Dawn on Monday afternoon, Ashraf confirmed that he and his staff were prepared for the worst possible scenario panning out.

“The writing was clearly on the wall when we reported at the ground in the early hours of Sunday. The conditions we saw put all of us in a state of depression, and the reason was very obvious because we didn’t have the required equipment to dry out the outfield,” Ashraf revealed. “The rains we had during the period [of the matches here] left the outfield inundated. The situation yesterday [Sunday] was so bad that we were ready to give all hopes of holding the game because the water just beneath had filled up to the top of the surface.

“One must understand that unless the sun comes out for long hours during the day, there is no chance of being blessed with a dry outfield. The weather here [in Rawalpindi] is still cold and wet. And throughout the duration [of PSL], the ground staff had a huge fight to win in combatting the harsh conditions.

“How we managed to minimise the damage is nothing short of a miracle because one cannot fight the nature and when there is so much rain around nobody can do anything but keep hoping for the best.” Luckily, only one match [Islamabad United vs Peshawar Zalmi on Feb 29 — the solitary fixture in this PSL to be abandoned without a ball being delivered] was completely washed out.

“While four matches remained unaffected by the adverse weather, the remaining three at least saw some action because we all worked round the clock because our aim was not to deprive the knowledgeable cricket fans of their moments of enjoyment,” the modest Ashraf said.

Ashraf, 55, is the son of Haji Mohammad Bashir who was a long-serving chief Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) curator at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore who retired in 2018 and is now working at the Lahore Qalandars-owned ground at Jallo Park in the Punjab metropolis. And like his father, Ashraf is held in high esteem in the cricketing circles.

“I’ve been working at the Pindi Cricket Stadium for about 28 years now and during my tenure, I have witnessed countless ups and downs. But Alhamdulillah I have no regrets because the team working under me includes extremely hardworking individuals,” he remarked.

“During the recent Test matches [against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh] and the PSL, we had to strengthen our team with four groundstaff members each were sent to Rawalpindi from Abbottabad and Mirpur [in Azad Kashmir] to work alongside the 11 of us working at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.”

However, Ashraf lamented the lack of adequate facilities does make him worry.

“I’ll give just one example; we had to borrow the ‘super-sopper’ [a mechanical-operated machine which dries up the outfield and the adjacent areas of the square surrounding the pitches] from the Gaddafi Stadium. Because the one we have here is worn-out and in a state of ramshackle.”

When asked to explain the secret behind the outfield becoming playable so quickly in the wake of showers in Rawalpindi, Ashraf replied: “Actually we don’t carry a magic wand or something else. The soil underneath this entire outfield has a blended texture of clay and sand. We bought a big number of trucks of sand many years ago from nearby Chak Shahzad [which is a suburb of Islamabad Capital Territory] and mixed the sand with the clay.

“This greatly helped in soaking the water on the grassy surface, mainly due to the presence of sand below the ground level.”

In the end, Ashraf praised former Sri Lanka batsman and ex-ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama, who has been officiating during the PSL here.

“Without a doubt, I’ll always rate Roshan very high among all the match referees in this PSL. He’s a thorough professional who understands the problems encountered by the ground staff. Moreover, he is a good-natured individual with whom we shared unforgettable moments during the matches here in Rawal­pindi,” Ashraf signed off.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2020