The Afghanistan cricket team is reportedly unhappy with the preparedness of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex for their historic one-off Test against New Zealand. With rain wreaking havoc, the management of the venue reportedly was caught napping and appear grossly unprepared to get the field ready for the Test.
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Even the toss hasn’t been held for the contest and two days of play have already been lost.
“This is a huge mess, we are never coming back here. The players are also unhappy with the facilities here,” an ACB official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
“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 venue has also served as Afghanistan’s home venue in the past. “Nothing has changed since we came here. It’s not improved one bit,” another ACB official said.
Ahead of the Test, Afghanistan captain Hasmatullah Shahidi had urged the BCCI and Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) to arrange “a good home venue” for the team
“India is our home, and when we host teams, other nations have played more cricket here,” Shahidi said on the eve of the one-off Test against New Zealand.
“Hopefully, we will get a good venue here in India and if we restrict ourselves to one venue, it will be effective for us. Hopefully, the ACB and the BCCI will get us a good venue,” he had said.
While the stadium doesn’t fall under the UP Cricket Association, it will be interesting to see whether BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla gets things in order.
While the Test is not a part of the World Test Championship, it is an ICC affiliated tournament.
The stadium, managed by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, had hosted a pink ball Duleep Trophy match in 2016. It was banned by the BCCI in September 2017 due to match-fixing during corporate matches. No BCCI affiliated match has been hosted here since.
With PTI Inputs
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