Workers prepare the East Coast Railway stadium ahead of the Ranji season. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 30: Preparations are on in full swing at the East Coast Railway stadium in the city for the upcoming Ranji Trophy cricket season.

The stadium, which hosted its first Ranji Trophy match in 2008, will host four matches this season with it being named the home venue of the Railways Ranji team for the first time.

All the eight pitches, including four for matches, are almost ready for the cricket battle. Workers are putting in an extra effort to make the outfield green.

Work to provide a better cricket field began a fortnight ago and it is expected to be completed in another week.

The Railways Ranji team decided to relocate its home ground to the city following a ban imposed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over poor pitch conditions at Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, the home ground for the Railways till last year.

Curator of the Odisha ground Trailokyanath Behera described the pitch as a competitive one, which will facilitate an even contest. “There will be grass on the pitch following BCCI standards. This will be a track which will enable both good batting and bowling,” said Behera.

Residents of the city are also enthusiastic about the upcoming matches at the stadium because a number of cricketers, who have represented India, are likely to play here.

“We are looking forward to watch Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel and some of the youngsters, who have performed well in Indian Premier League, in action,” said Sandip Sahu, a young cricketer from the state capital.

Railways, which is placed in Group A with the defending champions Rajasthan, will play four of their matches at East Coast Railway stadium. The match against Punjab will begin on November 17.

They will play their next two games against Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh on November 24 and December 8 respectively.

The team will play the fourth match on its home ground on December 15 against Rajasthan.

Built on an area of 22 acres and at a cost of Rs 6 crore, the stadium has hosted five Ranji Trophy matches till date.

The only cricket stadium of the city with facilities to host Ranji matches used to be the alternative home ground for the Odisha cricket team. The venue had also hosted some matches of the inaugural edition of the Odisha Premier League.

East Coast Railway Sports Association officials said necessary steps were being taken to make the matches successful.

“We will carry out some repair work at the stadium so that both the players and the spectators enjoy the matches here,” said an official of the association.