GREATER NOIDA: Using traditional tarpaulin to protect the outfield, electric fans to dry wet patches, loaning ground covers from one state unit and a super sopper from another, while deploying untrained ground staff, the Greater Noida Authority encountered a colossal failure in not being able to get the second day's play underway in the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand.
For the second successive day, not a single ball could be bowled at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, putting the venue under scrutiny and making it an international embarrassment.
The game, the first between the two nations, was scheduled to begin on Monday, but no play was possible as the umpires cited "player safety" as a concern.
While there was no rain throughout the day, there was a downpour for about an hour on Monday evening, affecting the start of play on Tuesday, which was scheduled to commence half an hour earlier than the original start time of 10 am.
Despite clear skies on Tuesday, the field could not be readied even for a curtailed day's play, despite best efforts.
The mid-on and midwicket areas remained a cause for concern, as the groundsmen were bringing in dry sections of grass from the practice area to "transplant" it to the midwicket area.
Additionally, three table fans were used to dry patches of grass on the offside, as the groundsmen continued to work all day.
Officials from the Greater Noida Authority, under which the stadium falls, were also in attendance, supervising the work.
The umpires conducted three inspections before calling off play on the second day.
According to stadium officials, there are five super soppers — two automatic and three manual. However, only two have been used throughout, and that too sparingly.
If sources are to be believed, the Greater Noida Authority had requested the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) for a couple of super soppers, which were sent from their Meerut Stadium for logistical purposes.
Similarly, during the day, traditional marriage shamiyanas (tents) were used to cover the outfield, and in the evening, when heavy rains started, they used tarpaulin as DDCA authorities rushed their outfield cover from Kotla.
If this wasn’t enough, the Greater Noida Authority didn’t have enough trained ground staff and apparently used untrained labour for the work.
While the pitch area remained pristine, the outfield was the issue on both days.
The BCCI had given the Afghanistan Cricket Board a few options, including Kanpur, Bengaluru, and Greater Noida. However, the ACB opted for Greater Noida for logistical reasons.
“The venue has always been Afghanistan’s home venue. If we talk about back from 2016, we have been playing games here,” ACB International Cricket Manager Menhaj Raaz said.
The area has been receiving incessant rainfall for the past two weeks, which the ACB claims has played spoilsport.
“It is because of the rain. Yesterday also, it rained. We had a three-day game here with one of the local teams which went well. We didn’t face any issue. But when the rain started, all of this happened.”
The Afghanistan Cricket Board has hosted 11 white-ball international games here before. The other Indian ground where they have hosted games is Dehradun.
“We had conducted a recce four to six months back, and even the visiting team had done their recce. So there was no issue,” Raaz added.
The ACB considered moving the match to a different venue but the monsoon made it impossible.
“We tried working on a solution to shift the game and they said that because of the same rain, you will not be able to, you know, actually prepare the venue for you in the coming next 24 hours."