'BCCI's Rejection Forces Afghanistan to Fume over Greater Noida Stadium Debacle'

The one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Despite there being no rain during the match itself, the first two days at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground were washed out. The venue had experienced rain in the buildup to the match, but surprisingly, there were no showers on Days 1 and 2 of the actual game.

According to PTI, there was poor communication and complete mismanagement between the stadium authority and the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). "This is a huge mess, we are never coming back here. The players are also unhappy with the facilities here," an ACB official is quoted as saying by the news agency.

An ACB official is also quoted as saying by the Indian Express that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had rejected its request of hosting the match in Lucknow or Dehradun. The Indian cricket board had instead reportedly offered the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and Green Park in Kanpur as options.

“Our first choice was the Lucknow stadium and the second was Dehradun. Our requests were rejected by the BCCI and we were told that both the states are hosting their respective T20 leagues. This was the only ground available and we had no other choice left,” the official is quoted as saying by the Indian Express.

“You won’t believe me but the stadia in Afghanistan have better facilities than this one. We have improved our infrastructure in the past few years but here as Shahidi has mentioned nothing has changed."

While the ground staff worked hard to make the pitch fit to play on, poor drainage facilities meant that little could be done. Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi expressed his disappointment with the facilities that were on offer for the match. “The facility is the same the way it was four years ago. Everything is the same, nothing has changed,” he had told reporters.

The BCCI hasn't hosted any of its domestic games here since the 2019 Vijay Hazare Trophy. It is now likely that no top level matches will be hosted for a long time to come after this show. International cricket could be even farther away with match referee Javagal Srinath's report set to seal the fate of the ground in the eyes of the International Cricket Council (ICC). As per the ICC 'Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process' that came into effect in November 2023, "After each Match, the Match Referee (Srinath in this case) will complete a Pitch and Outfield Report Form and send it to the ICC Senior Cricket Operations Manager."

The 'Pitch and Outfield Report Form' will be compiled using the guidelines for rating pitches and outfields and, where required, will include comments on the pitch and outfield from the captains of the two teams who played and the umpires who officiated in the relevant match.