The one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand is on the verge of making it to the history book, but for the wrong reasons. Unrelenting rain led to play being called off before the scheduled time on Thursday for the second consecutive day, leaving the match without action for four straight days. The first-ever Test between the two nations is on the brink of a washout. Only seven matches in Test history have incurred the misfortune of being abandoned without a ball being bowled, the last being in 1998, also involving New Zealand.
It barely rained through Day 4 at Greater Noida, even as most of the ground remained under the cover, but overnight rain had led to a few puddles in the outfield, thus exposing the lack of preparedness at the stadium. The story was largely the same in the opening two days as well, leading to ground staff using electric fans to dry the wet patches and even digging up and refilling a wet outfield area with dry soil and fresh turf. Amid their failed efforts, an ACB official described the situation as “a huge mess,” as reported by PTI.
Another ACB official was quoted by The Indian Express saying that the BCCI had rejected their request to host the match in Lucknow or Dehradun, with the Indian board having offered alternate venues such as Bengaluru and Kanpur. However, speaking to reporters after Day 2, Menhajuddin Naz, ACB international cricket manager, clarified that Afghanistan picked Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida for logistical reasons.
Greater Noida stadium manager breaks his silence
Amid the allegations of mismanagement, the venue manager of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, speaking to Radio channel 93.5 Red FM hit back at the criticism, saying that the naysayers are making those remarks because they need content.
“The Afghanistan team had arrived on 30 August and they played a 3-day (intra-squad) match from 1-2 September where they scored more than 300 runs. We delivered the pitch as per coach Jonathan Trott’s demand,” the concerned person said. “The rain is causing the major trouble which isn’t in our hands. The closest stadium to this one is Delhi (Arun Jaitley Stadium) where the downpour has resulted in the cancellation of (DPL 2024) matches. The showers are so heavy that the water penetrates the covers despite enveloping the entire ground.
“And it’s not that Afghanistan are not aware of this ground. It has been their home venue for three years and they surely have trained in rainy conditions. Had their board been unaware, they wouldn’t have approved this venue to host the game.”
The RJ responded to the statement saying, “Jitna to humari team nahi kheli, itna to inhone khela hai (the Indian cricket team has never played but the Afghans did),” to which the stadium manager replied: “Kuch logon ko content chahiye hotein hain, unko reality nahi jaan na (People just need content and don’t want to know the reality).”