The under-construction JSCA stadium in Dhurwa, Ranchi

Ranchi, May 5: Painting to the gallery, is it?

Right in the middle of the IPL-V frenzy comes a surprise over. The spanking new international cricket stadium at Dhurwa in Ranchi, which wanted to host a couple of IPL matches this year but was snubbed after preliminary positive signals from the BCCI, seems to seek consolation in art.

The stadium will soon pad up paintings by state artists that display Jharkhand’s rich tribal cultural heritage, among other things.

Spread over 37 acres, the Rs 140-crore sporting hub boasts a main stadium with a spectator capacity of around 35,000, an international indoor cricket facility, a cricket academy ground, tennis courts, a clubhouse, spacious dressing rooms and pavilions, dining spaces and a media centre.

And now, Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) plans to add some inspired brushstrokes to the stadium’s formidable list of attractions with a mega three-hour camp from 9.30am on tomorrow.

In that time — an edge-of-the-seat T20 match takes roughly that much — 165 artists in three age-specific groups will paint on topics as varied as Indian sports, Jharkhand’s culture and natural beauties.

The best of the lot — judged by a panel — will be put up at various places in the stadium.

There are a lot of takers for this novel scheme. Last month, when the JSCA invited artists, it received a deluge of 350 applicants. It whittled the list to 165 artists, who have now been divided into three categories — sub-juniors up to 14 years, juniors between 14 and 21 years and seniors above 21 years.

Artists are coming from all across the state, including Sahebganj, Dumka, Hazaribagh, Bokaro, Jamshedpur and Ranchi.

Haren Thakur, a well-known artist and one of the members of camp organising committee, said this art camp would promote artists of the state as well as tribal culture.

“We seek to promote the art and culture of our state through the paintings of the artists. It’s for the first time that such an event has been organised by the cricket association and that too on a large scale,” he pointed out.

Okay, with a certain Mr Dhoni getting consistently drubbed on the pitch, there’s some canvas relief for sore eyes.