Upcoming cricket matches between India and England at Chennai do have a direct garment export connection!
42-year-old apparel exporter V. Ramesh Kumar is making his debut as the pitch curator and will be instrumental in deciding the outcome of the two matches.
Ramesh runs two successful apparel companies in Tirupur, namely, Cosimo International, which exports apparels to Europe, and Allwin Colours, a dyeing company.
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has appointed him as the pitch curator.
His love for cricket made him learn the art of pitch-curating. Though he has been doing it for some years now, he hasn’t been able to take up the job full-time due to his business commitments.
Producing menswear, womenswear and kidswear, Cosimo International is a 14-year-old company that has vertically integrated operations. It has a monthly capacity of around 2 lakh Tees per month.
As per ESPNCricinfo, when Ramesh got a call to be the pitch curator for the first two Tests, he was surprised and asked for a couple of days as he needed to discuss the same with his family.
The big question was how he would be able to manage his business if he took up the offer!
However, Ramesh ended up taking the job and has now provided a huge pitch update of the first test between India and England that begins this Friday (5 February).
Ramesh, an MBA in international business and an MS in psychology, manages over 700 people at both companies. His wife Malarvizhi Giri, who is a chartered accountant, is also active in the business.
Ramesh has represented Tamil Nadu at the 110 metre hurdles and was also part of the state’s relay teams and has won two medals at the national championships in 1996.
His love for cricket, along with his dream to help young boys develop into good players, motivated him to launch the Tirupur School of Cricket.
Almost a decade ago, he bought land and constructed a small ground with two matting pitches, one turf pitch and 12 practice strips surrounded by ‘lush green’ outfield. Currently around 80 kids are there at the academy.
To manage the ground and the pitch, he had to recruit ground staff from Chennai, which was proving difficult, and so he decided to learn the craft himself.
With the help of TNCA, he attended the BCCI course on pitch-making in 2018. Later he started making pitches in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Salem, for Under-16, -19 and -23 BCCI tournaments.
During IPL 2019, the TNCA wanted him to take charge at Chepauk, but business commitments did not allow him to.