Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand abandoned without a throw

By Aparajita Upadhyay

Greater Noida, the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand was abandoned on Friday without a ball being bowled, only the eighth time in the history of Test cricket that such a situation has occurred.

The first two days of play were cancelled due to a wet outfield, which raised serious concerns about the preparation of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, and the remaining three days were then cancelled due to persistent rain.

An inspection was carried out on Friday morning, but with puddles of water still present in the uncovered parts of the outfield, it was clear from the start that the game would be abandoned without even the coin toss having taken place.

“Rain is still continuing in Greater Noida and due to the frequent rains, the fifth and final day of the Afghanistan vs New Zealand Test has been cancelled by the officials,” the Afghanistan Cricket Association said in a statement.

Since 1890, only seven matches in the history of Test cricket have been abandoned without a single ball being bowled. The last time this happened was almost 26 years ago, in 1998. That match was a Kiwis match, which was scheduled to take on India in Dunedin, New Zealand.

However, this is the first time that such an incident has taken place at an Indian venue. It had been raining continuously for the past two weeks and the lack of facilities such as proper flooring to lay out the 30-yard circle, inadequate drainage, lack of trained ground staff and inadequate super soppers caused maximum damage.

Despite bright sunshine on the first two days, no games were possible because the referees took the “safety of the players” as a reason to ponder it.

The midwicket area was particularly problematic. To solve the problem, groundsmen brought dry pieces of grass from the practice area to “transplant” them into the midwicket zone.

Although the BCCI tried to help by providing additional machines, and the Delhi Delhi & District Cricket Association and the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association also helped out, it was a little too late.

The hosts were Afghanistan, who only received their Test status in 2017 and had only played nine international red-ball matches before this game.

It was the first time that Afghanistan, who do not play many test matches against major nations, were scheduled to face New Zealand.

However, this match was not part of the ICC World Test Championship cycle. As for the stadium, umpire Javagal Srinath's report on the preparation of the venue will have a major impact on its fate.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications.