Greater Noida: Indian cricket has always taken pride in providing the best facilities to the touring nations with the country currently boasting the most number of international cricket venues in the world and almost all of them are world-class. So it’s natural when a country like Afghanistan, which doesn’t have a proper stadium of its own, slams the stadium facilities, labels it as a huge mess and vows to never return to the venue.
Despite no rain on Monday, Day 1 of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand was called off without a ball being bowled at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida. Due to the poor drainage system, the waterlogged stadium from overnight rain couldn’t be prepared for the action to begin.
An Afghanistan Cricket official didn’t hold back while blasting the facilities of the stadium in a country, which they call their second cricket home.
“This is a huge mess, we are never coming back here. The players are also unhappy with the facilities here,” an ACB official said after Day 1 was called off without a ball.
“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.
The Test match is not a part of the World Test Championship but an ICC-affiliated tournament.
Same story on Day 2
After a damp start, hopes of starting Day 2 on time were also dashed as groundstaff couldn’t get the ground ready. Just like on Monday, the weather was fine with the sun out the whole day but incessant rains from the last couple of weeks had done the damage.
After a couple of inspections, one more is scheduled for 3 PM IST.
In a country that takes pride in having the best facilities in the stadiums across the country, the absence of modern facilities led to embarrassment.
Interestingly, the stadium comes under the management of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority. The last notable match this venue hosted was a pink ball Duleep Trophy match in 2016.
The venue was by the BCCI in September 2017 due to match-fixing during corporate matches. Since then, it has hosted no BCCI-affiliated match.
Indian cricket was left embarrassed as woeful faculties at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida washed out Day 1 of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand and delayed the start on Day 2. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
