Match referee Javagal Srinath’s report on the readiness of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida will go a long way in deciding the fate of the venue which is under scrutiny after the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand failed to start in successive days.
For once, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which often becomes the favourite scapegoat, is not responsible for the disaster. The “home board” is the Afghanistan Cricket Board, which chose a familiar and profitable venue despite being offered the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and Green Park in Kanpur as options.
The BCCI is not involved in this Test match. It was the decision of the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the Greater Noida Authority was supposed to provide them with international-level facilities.
The BCCI has not hosted any of its domestic matches here since 2019 (Vijay Hazare Trophy) and is unlikely to host one in the near or distant future in these poor conditions, if sources are to be believed.
The ICC, for its part, would follow standard protocol for any international venue, where the match referee’s report decides the course of action to be taken.
Not a single ball could be bowled on the first two days and with a steady downpour on Tuesday night reducing play on the third day, Srinath will have to assess the drainage conditions of the ground, which are not up to par with other international venues.
There was bright sunshine for two days, but heavy rain the previous afternoon was enough to put a damper on the party.
The absence of a proper super surface or sufficient ground cover to protect the outfield, or for that matter the lack of adequately trained ground staff, are many problems with this venue, which is not directly under the aegis of the BCCI.
According to the ICC’s ‘Pitch and Field Monitoring Process’ that came into effect in November 2023, “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 compiled using the guidelines for grading pitches and fields and, where necessary, will include comments on the pitch and field from the captains of the two teams that played and the umpires who officiated at the relevant match.
It will be interesting to see what kind of comments New Zealand captain Tim Southee makes.
Within 14 days of receipt, the ICC Senior Cricket Operations Manager will forward the ‘Pitch and Field Report Form’ to the home board, with a copy to the visiting board.
The ICC Senior Manager of Cricket Operations will advise the home board on any demerit points that have been imposed on a host venue.
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.”
Demerit points will remain active for a continuous period of five years.
If the Greater Noida venue accumulates a total of six (6) or more demerit points, its accreditation to host international matches will be suspended for a period of 12 months.
However, if the ICC rules are revised, for a single Test match, if both the pitch and the outfield are deemed “unfit” by the match referee, then it would carry three demerit points and one more such game would be required for the venue to be suspended.
The responsibility for deciding whether to continue holding matches at such a venue, which could be suspended in the near future due to its poor infrastructure, will therefore fall on the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
The local authorities cannot afford to carry out a massive redevelopment and would need the deep pockets of the BCCI to make it at least a nationally acceptable venue.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: September 11, 2024 | 9:43 am IS
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