बिना खेले मैच हुआ रद्द, वजह बारिश नहीं तो क्या

Match cancelled without playing, if the reason is not rain then what?

The New Zealand team, which came to play a Test match for the first time against Afghanistan, had to face poor arrangements on the first day of the Test match. Here, poor water was drained out of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, there were no proper arrangements to deal with the wet outfield. There was no rain on the day of the match on Monday, despite this, the toss of the match could not take place due to the pathetic facilities here. The organizers had to cancel the first day's play without even bowling a ball.

Let us tell you that earlier the preparations for the first Test between the two countries were affected by rain and New Zealand could not complete even a single practice session properly. Apart from the drizzle at night, there was no rain throughout the day on Monday, but due to the lack of modern facilities, the inexperienced ground workers had to struggle to prepare the ground. Not only this, the umpires inspected six times throughout the day. Many New Zealand players including captain Tim Southee, all-rounder Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra also came to inspect the ground. But mid-on and mid-wicket seemed to be areas of concern, while there were several patches inside the 30-yard circle as well.

With the sun shining brightly, it once looked like the match could start but it was not to be. Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott was also unhappy with the struggle of the groundsmen. Super soppers were also put in place only after 1pm. Eventually, the first day was called off at 4pm. The toss is scheduled for tomorrow at 9am and the remaining four days will have 98 overs, starting at 9.30am instead of 10am. The groundsmen had used table fans to dry the ground for Afghanistan's training session.

The lack of modern facilities extended beyond the ground, which affected operations off the pitch. The venue did not have proper stands for the media and adequate seating for fans. Apart from this, there was a lack of water for the 'accredited' media, electricity supply and even ladies' toilets, due to which everyone had to face many inconveniences. Even the fans were not aware of what was happening as there was no announcement system. There was poor communication and complete mismanagement between the stadium authority and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). An ACB official said, 'There is a lot of mess, we will never come back here. The players are also unhappy with the facilities here.'

He said, 'We had already spoken to the concerned people and the stadium people assured us that everything will be fine with regard to media facilities.' Although this Test is not a part of the World Test Championship, it is affiliated to the ICC. The stadium, run by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, hosted the pink ball Duleep Trophy match in 2016.