Berhampur: Considering the craziness for cricket in the country where youths are found playing the game even in lanes and bylanes, the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) at Berhampur is preparing a pitch for practice of cricket lovers in the town.
The students of state government run ITI-Berhampur in Odisha’s Ganjam district are preparing the cricket pitch of 10 feet wide and 60 feet length in front of the auditorium inside the campus. They have dug up the pitch and are filling it with concrete.
They have covered the area with GI square pipe frame upto a height of 10 feet. The frame would be fixed with nylon net to prevent the ball to go outside. A mat would be placed on the concrete floor of the pitch.
“The construction of the pitch was started four days back and would take another one week to complete. The cricket players can use it for free,” said Rajat Kumar Panigrahi, principal of the institute.
Kanhu Behera, a faculty member, said while the practice pitch will benefit the local budding cricketers, its construction work will serve as a practical experience for the students.
“The students of Plumber trade can gain experience by working as mason and Survey trade as civil engineers. We provide the raw materials including the GI pipes, nylon net and the mat,” he added.
Though there are many cricket practice pitches at different playgrounds in Berhampur and Gopalpur, none of them is free for the players. The free practice pitch in ITI-Berhampur will fiulfil the aspirations of the budding cricket lovers in the city, he hoped.
