It was another day of embarrassment for the authorities of Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Stadium as the second day’s play of the lone Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand was called off due to wet outfield, without the toss being held.
After the opening day’s play was abandoned due to similar reasons, one expected things to improve. However, with heavy downpour last evening, the ground staff at the venue, which is hosting its maiden Test match, struggled to get the ground in shape.
At the moment, about 50 groundsmen are at work. The facility had around 15 people and the rest were brought in from other centres.
While both the teams stayed back at the hotel for a larger part of the day, the groudsmen dug up the square near the mid-wicket area at the pavilion end which was a trouble spot all through the opening day and reinstalled fresh grass slabs. Even though it remained bright and sunny throughout the day, some parts of the outfield were so soggy that the ground staff used two fans face-down to dry the spot near the off-side. But those efforts were not enough as the match referee Javagal Srinath finally called off the day’s proceedings at 3pm.
By then, a few New Zealand players - including Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel - were back in the nets, while the members of the coaching staff had long conversations with the match officials.
Who’s at fault?
With two consecutive days of play abandoned, questions were raised on why did the Afghanistan Cricket Board choose Greater Noida as its home venue?
“The BCCI offered us three venues - this one, Kanpur and Bengaluru, but we chose Greater Noida as it was most convenient in terms of logistics. It was closer to Delhi and also connectivity from Kabul was better,” said Menhajuddin Naz, the international cricket manager at ACB.
“This has always been our home venue. We have hosted teams like Zimbabwe, Ireland here since 2016. Recently, during our discussions with the BCCI, this ground was offered and this was the best logistical venue for us,” Naz added.
Even though it remained bright and sunny throughout the day, some parts of the outfield were so soggy that the ground staff used two fans face-down to dry the spot near the off-side. | Photo Credit: R V Moorthy / The Hindu
Recee process done
The official also backed the decision and said ACB and New Zealand Cricket were ‘involved in the recce process’. “Following the international standard, we did a recce four to six months before finalising the fixture,” Naz said, adding that situation worsened due to persistent rains over the last couple of weeks. “The issue cropped up due to heavy rains for the last few days. Also, it rained heavily last evening and it wasn’t looking good at all. Even if it would have been any other venue, they would have struggled to get it back on time,” he added.
The Greater Noida venue, which was suspended by the BCCI since 2017, has so far hosted 11 white-ball international fixtures. However, over the last couple of days, it was evident that the facility lacks infrastructure and manpower. However, the ACB officials blamed it on the rain and claimed that with weather conditions worsening, they had even reached out to some other venues for a last-minute shift, but that did not happen. “We tried working on a solution to shift the game. We reached out to a few nearby venues and they all said that because of the same rain they will not be able to prepare the venue in 24 hours,” said Akbar Muhammad, ACB’s commercial head.
The stadium is managed by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority and not run by a state cricket association and hence, the resources are limited. The organisers have arranged more covers from the Arun Jaitley Stadium. According to the stadium officials, the ground has five super soppers. However, sources say that the ACB arranged three super-soppers from UPCA.
Even though the officials are hopeful of the game resuming on Wednesday, the rain forecast persists, making it a challenging task for the ground staff.
Comments
SHARE