Greater Noida’s stadium manager pins blame on Afghanistan as controversy over farcical Test rolls on

The only Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand in Greater Noida is set for a farcical end. Heavy rains meant that the fourth day of the game was also called off and there was a good chance that the final day of the game would also not take place. This puts the game on the verge of becoming only the 8th time a Test was washed out without a ball being bowled. 

The stadium manager of Greater Noida Stadium was in conversation with Red FM. This is when he decided to put the blame on the Afghanistan side over the farce that the world has seen. 

“The Afghanistan team had arrived on 30 August and they played a 3-day (intra-squad) match from 1-2 September where they scored more than 300 runs. We delivered the pitch as per coach Jonathan Trott’s demand” The manager said

Also Check: 5 Test matches abandoned without a ball being bowled 

Controversy rumbles on about Greater Noida stadium

The Afghanistan side have already declared that they will not be playing at the Greater Noida stadium. This was the venue allotted to the Afghan side as some of the other centres are busy hosting their local T20 leagues. 

The venue manager also blamed the weather for the chaos witnessed so far. “The rain is causing the major trouble which isn’t in our hands. The closest stadium to this one is Delhi (Arun Jaitley Stadium) where the downpour has resulted in the cancellation of (DPL 2024) matches. The showers are so heavy that the water penetrates the covers despite enveloping the entire ground”

During his chat with the FM station the unnamed Stadium Manager took one final dig at the Afghan side “And it’s not that Afghanistan are not aware of this ground. It has been their home venue for three years and they surely have trained in rainy conditions. Had their board been unaware, they wouldn’t have approved this venue to host the game.”

Meanwhile, The Afghanistan board has announced its team for the South African series. Afghanistan will take on South Africa in 3 ODI matches to be played in Sharjah from the 18th of September. The team is to be led by Hasmatullah Shahidi and will also see the return of Rashid Khan. 

Afghanistan squad for South Africa series – 

Hashmatullah Shahidi (Captain), Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil, Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, AM Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran, Fareed Ahmad