KANPUR: Earlier this month, a one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand was abandoned without a ball being bowled at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, Greater Noida. The decision came on the fourth day as wet outfield prevented any action on the field. It raised serious questions over the preparedness of the venue.

The Greater Noida Authority, which comes under the Uttar Pradesh government, owns the stadium and was supposed to provide all facilities to Afghanistan, the hosts. Ironically another venue in the state, the iconic Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, owned by the sports directorate of the UP government, seems to be going the same way.

Stakes here, however, are high. Unlike the Afghanistan-New Zealand match, the ongoing contest between India and Bangladesh is part of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle and anything other than a win for the hosts could affect their chances of making it to the final for the third consecutive time.

After the delayed start on the opening day on Friday, the second and third day’s play of the second Test was called off without a ball being bowled. While heavy rain on Friday night and intermittent drizzle on Saturday forced match officials to call off the play, Sunday witnessed no such rain and even the sun came out. However, wet outfield saw play being called off at 2PM after three inspections beginning at 10AM. The match officials found certain areas in the outfield like mid-on, mid-off and the bowler’s run-up from the media box end damp to start the play.

Around 15000 spectators turned up on Sunday morning and waited patiently for more than six hours for the action to begin but it turned out to be a heartbreak for them. Visibly upset, they blamed authorities concerned for the mess saying the ground should have better facilities to deal with such situations.