CHITTAGONG, May 20: Heavy rain played spoilsport as third day's play of the opening cricket Test match between India and Bangladesh was called off on Sunday without a ball being bowled due to poor ground conditions. The two umpires, Billy Doctrove and Daryl Harper, decided to cancel the day's play in consultation with curator Shaiful Alam Belal after inspecting the conditions around 1100 IST. The rains, which had allowed only 20 overs of play on Saturday, continued throughout the night and there was more downpour in the morning leading to water logging on the ground at the Bir Sreshta Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium. Scorecard It created several puddles in the outfield which could have led to injuries to the players and there was no sunshine either since morning. The overcast conditions made it impossible to dry the ground in time to squeeze in even a few overs. The grounds men were on their job since early morning but they could do little in the face of adverse weather conditions. Belal had earlier conceded that due to the clay soil in the lower layer, drainage was a problem at the venue in case of rains. After more than six hours' wait, the play began at 1600 IST on Saturday and India moved to 384/6 at stumps in their first innings. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly struck tons while Bangladesh picked up three quick wickets to peg back the Indians. While the Bangladesh players did some practice at the indoor gymnasium in the stadium premises, the Indian players stayed in their hotel. Earlier, the third and final One-dayer between the two sides had also been washed out at the same venue on May 15 following rains triggered by 'Hurricane Akash'. The organisers have decided that play would start half an hour early on Monday to partially compensate for the lost time. But with around 12 hours of playing time already lost, the sports buffs are keeping their fingers crossed.
Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment