“We Chose Greater Noida” Afghanistan Clarifies Amid Stadium Controversy (image-twitter/Mohsin_Ali_0302)
The controversy over facilities in Greater Noida continued as the match on Day 2 of the one-off Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand was called off without any action. The ironic part was that not a single drop of rain was there during the match hours the entire day, however, due to the poor drainage system at the grounds led to the cancellation of the match.
As per the report of Indian Express, an Afghanistan Cricket Board member had said that the Greater Noida Sports Complex Stadium was not their first choice for this match.
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“You won’t believe me but the stadia in Afghanistan have better facilities than this one. We have improved our infrastructure in the past few years but here as Shahidi has mentioned nothing has changed,” the ACB official had told The Indian Express on condition of anonymity a day before the Test was to begin.
He said their first choice was the Lucknow stadium and the second was Dehradun. However, their request was rejected by the BCCI due to the T20 matches being held in these stadiums. “This was the only ground available and we had no other choice left,” he added.
Team captain Hashmatullah Shahidi too was not impressed with the facility. “The facility is the same the way it was four years ago. Everything is the same, nothing has changed,” he said to reporters.
However, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) being cautious about the criticism, fearing it would spoil its relationship with BCCI, said they were disappointed. When the second day match too got scrapped, the official said to reporters, “Everyone, including the ground authorities, have worked hard,” Menhajuddin Naz, the ACB international cricket manager, told reporters. “Even if it had been any other venue, they would have struggled to get it back on time.”
Naz further added that they were given the offer to host the Test in the northern city of Kanpur or the southern city of Bangalore but had opted for Greater Noida.
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They have chosen this location as it is more convenient in terms of logistics being closer to Delhi, he said.
The match on the second day had to be called off despite putting in the best efforts to dry the wet patches using electric fans and even digging up and refilling the wet outfield area with dry soil and fresh turf. However, umpires deemed the condition unplayable, leading one official to describe the situation as a “huge mess”.
