“BCCI rejected our request. We had no other choice”: Stadium debacle in Greater Noida enrages Afghanistan

The one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The match is scheduled to be played at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, but the first two days of play were rained out, although there was not a drop of rain during the match itself. It rained at the venue in the run-up to the match, but there were no showers on Days 1 and 2 themselves.

According to PTI, there was poor communication and total mismanagement between the stadium authority and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). “It's a huge mess, we will never come here again. The players are also unhappy with the facilities here,” an ACB official was quoted as saying by the news agency.

An ACB official was also quoted by the Indian Express as saying that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had rejected its request to play the match in Lucknow or Dehradun. The Indian Cricket Association had instead reportedly offered the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and the Green Park in Kanpur as alternatives.

“Our first choice was the stadium in Lucknow and the second in Dehradun. Our requests were rejected by the BCCI and we were informed that both the states are hosting their respective T20 leagues. This was the only stadium available and we had no other option,” the official was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

“You won't believe it, but the stadiums in Afghanistan have better facilities than this one. We have improved our infrastructure in recent years, but here, as Shahidi mentioned, nothing has changed.”

Hashmatullah Shahidi expresses disappointment

Although ground staff worked hard to make the pitch playable, not much could be done due to poor drainage. Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi expressed his disappointment with the facilities available for the match. “The facility is still the same as it was four years ago. Everything is the same, nothing has changed,” he told reporters.

The BCCI has not played any of its domestic matches here since the 2019 Vijay Hazare Trophy. It is now likely that after this show, no top-level matches will be played for a long time. International cricket could be even further away, as umpire Javagal Srinath's report will seal the ground's fate in the eyes of the International Cricket Council (ICC). According to the ICC's 'Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process', which came into effect in November 2023, “after each match, the umpire (Srinath in this case) will complete a pitch and outfield report form and send it to the ICC's Senior Cricket Operations Manager.”

The Field and Outfield Report Form is compiled using the Field and Outfield Evaluation Guidelines and includes, where necessary, comments on the field and outfield from the captains of the two teams playing against each other and the umpires who officiated the respective match.