PITCHING FOR bright FUTURE: Keenan stadium on Tuesday. (Bhola Prasad)

Back in form. The thrill of chasing the ball on Keenan Stadium’s silken outfield will be back with a bang, if sports officials at Tata Steel are to be believed.

Once eastern India’s pride, the 72-year-old stadium at Jamshedpur, which has not hosted an ODI since 2006 and gradually fallen into neglect, is under revamp mode. Now, the heritage stadium will be turned into a cricket-exclusive zone.

The Telegraph had on Oct. 10 carried a report — Keenan’s on shaky wicket — which said how the shabby stadium, especially the dilapidated Naoroji Pavilion, was a source of shock for cricket lovers.

Keenan, which so far hosted 10 ODIs the last one between India and England in April 2006, lost its glamour due to a number of reasons. Though the sports department carried on with the usual dressing of the ground before a BCCI match, the exercise was never exhaustive. The JSCA’s international stadium in Ranchi was also given priority. Consequently, the Keenan turf was sidelined. But Tata Steel has promised a chic makeover in the coming weeks, as Keenan hosts 13 BCCI matches, including Twenty-20 zonal league (East Zone) which kick-starts on October 20.

The steel major’s sports department, which looks after its maintenance, said levelling and grazing — cutting of grass — have been completed. The major chunk of the work — repair of Naoroji and Old pavilions and the galleries — is in the pipeline still, but it will be done soon.

“We want BCCI matches allotted to Jharkhand State Cricket Association to be hosted at Keenan. The stadium will be used exclusively for cricket,” said Tata Steel sports department senior manager Charles Borromeo.

Borromeo, a keen cricket buff, said they were serious about turning Keenan into what it was in the early 1980s right up to the mid-2000s. “The ground’s outfield is superb and has always drawn kudos from top cricketers. We’ll be glad to hear the applause again,” Borromeo told The Telegraph.

The sports department will also take feedback from cricketers to develop the stadium. Borromeo added that steps were underway to make the stadium a cricket-only turf. “Jamshedpur Sporting Association (JSA) football league will no longer be held at Keenan. We’re developing some grounds in the city to be used for staging JSA soccer matches,” he said.

It means the sacrifice of another longstanding tradition — JSA league football matches have been held at Keenan since 1942 — but the hurly-burly of soccer will be kept away.

The sports department of the steel major is eyeing grounds such as the ISWP, near Telco, CNR and Beldih grounds at Bistupur, as well as a stadium in Tinplate, for which it needs to hold talks with the company’s management. “We are turning the ISWP grounds into a multi-sport facility for football, basketball, volleyball and archery. A jogger’s park will be an added facility there,” said Borromeo.

How can Keenan get back its heydays?

Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com