Greater Noida: Deplorable conditions at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, subpar drainage, a sodden outfield and woeful facilities played spoilsport as the opening day of the historic one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand was called off on Monday without a ball being bowled.
Rain had affected the buildup to the Test, the first between the two nations, with New Zealand not being able to complete a single practice session properly.
Apart from overnight shower, rain did not affect the venue throughout Monday. But the absence of modern facilities left the inexperienced ground staff struggling to prepare the field as the sack of saw dust saw more action than the players on the opening day.
The umpires conducted as many as six inspections throughout the day. Several New Zealand players too came out to assess the field, including skipper Tim Southee, all-rounders Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra also ventured onto the pitch to evaluate the conditions. But the mid-on and mid-wicket area seemed cause of concern while there were also several patches inside the 30-yard circle.
At one point with the sun shinning nice and bright, it looked like the match could get underway but the hopes of that were dashed when Kane Williamson tread wearily towards the pitch around 2pm IST. Even Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott looked unimpressed as the groundsmen struggled. The Super soppers inexplicably came into action only after 1pm.
The day's play was eventually called off at 4pm. The toss has been scheduled for 9am tomorrow and the remaining four days will have 98 overs each starting at 9.30am, instead of 10am.
Ahead of the Test, the ground staff had resorted to using table fans to dry the ground for Afghanistan's training sessions. The absence of modern facilities extended beyond the field itself, impacting operations off the pitch. The venue lacked a proper media stand and adequate seating arrangements for fans.
Additionally, the accredited media faced significant inconveniences, including a lack of water, power supply, and access to a female washroom. The fans too had no idea what was going on as there was no public announcement system.
There was poor communication and complete mismanagement between the stadium authority and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB)."This is a huge mess, we are never coming back here. The players are also unhappy with the facilities here," an ACB official said.
"We had spoken with the concerned people well in advance and were assured by the stadium guys that everything will be in order (pertaining to the media facilities)," he added. While the Test is not a part of the World Test Championship, it is an ICC-affiliated tournament.
The stadium, managed by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, had hosted a pink ball Duleep Trophy match in 2016.
However, it had been banned by the BCCI in September 2017 due to match-fixing during corporate matches. No BCCI-affiliated match has been hosted here since.
The stadium has served as the home ground for Afghanistan in the past. "Nothing has changed since we came here. It's not improved one bit," another ACB official said.
Ahead of the Test, Afghanistan captain Hasmatullah Shahidi had urged the BCCI and ACB to arrange "a good home venue" for the team. "India is our home, and when we host teams, other nations have played more cricket here," Shahidi said on the eve of the one-off Test against New Zealand.
"Hopefully, we will get a good venue here in India and if we restrict ourselves to one venue, it will be effective for us. Hopefully, the ACB and the BCCI will get us a good venue," he had said.
While the stadium doesn't fall under the UP Cricket Association, it will be interesting to see whether BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla gets things in order.
