The future of Greater Noida Stadium as a venue for international matches depends on Javagal Srinath’s report, here’s how

The unique and historic case Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand The match at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida was called off on Monday without a ball being bowled.

Despite the fact that it did not rain, the captains of both teams did not even show up for the draw, the news agency reported. PTIThe reason is that the stadium is not well equipped to host a test match.

Now, members of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) are visibly upset with the conditions and some of them are vowing never to return to the venue.

“It’s a disaster, we will never come back here. The players are not happy with the facilities either. We had spoken to the people involved well in advance and the stadium staff assured us that everything would be in order (as far as the press facilities were concerned),” high An ACB official said: “Nothing has changed since we came here. It hasn’t improved one bit.”

Greater Noida Stadium is Afghanistan’s home stadium. In 2016, the ICC granted the stadium permission to host Full Member matches and thereafter, Afghanistan hosted two ODIs and two T20Is between 2017 and 2020.

What difference will Srinath’s report make?

Match referee Javagal Srinath’s report on the readiness of the Greater Noida Stadium will decide the fate of the venue in the coming days.

He CPIThe ICC’s ‘Pitch and Field Monitoring Process’ rules, which came into effect in November 2023, read: “After each Match, the Match Referee (Srinath in this case) will complete a Pitch and Field Report Form and submit it to the ICC Senior Manager, Cricket Operations.”

The ‘Pitch and Field Report Form’ will be prepared following the ICC guidelines for the classification of pitches and fields. It may also include comments on the pitch and field from the captains of the two teams that played the match.

It will be interesting to see how New Zealand captain Tim Southee comments on the situation.

After receipt is submitted within 14 days, the ICC Senior Cricket Operations Manager will send the ‘Pitch and Field Report Form’ to the home board and a copy to the visiting board.

Following this, the ICC’s Senior Manager of Cricket Operations will advise the home board on any demerit points imposed on a host venue which will remain active for a continuous period of five years.

According to the ICC clause, “If conditions are such that the Match Referee has reason to rate the pitch and/or outfield as unsatisfactory or unfit, a corresponding number of demerit points will be imposed on the host venue as described in the guidelines for grading pitches and outfields.”

Should the Greater Noida venue accumulate a total of six or more demerit points, its accreditation to host international matches will be suspended for a period of 12 months, the report said.

However, ICC rules state that if the match referee deems both the pitch and the outfield to be “unfit” for a Test match, then it will receive three demerit points and it would take one more such game for the venue to be suspended.

After the demerit points, the ACB would have to decide whether to continue playing at the Greater Noida Stadium. In case Greater Noida gets demerit points, the local authorities would need the deep pockets of the BCCI to convert it into at least an acceptable domestic stadium.

Are you related to BCCI?

Earlier, The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had allowed the ACB to choose between Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium and Kanpur’s Green Park, but the ACB chose a cost-effective venue.

Since the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2019, the BCCI has not hosted any of its domestic games in Greater Noida and may not host another one in the distant future due to poor conditions.