NEW DELHI: Unfit pitch conditions at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium forced the fifth and final one-day international between India and Sri Lanka to be abandoned on Sunday.
Sri Lanka, sent in to bat, were 83-5 in the 24th over when the umpires stopped play after a ball from debutante seamer Sudeep Tyagi bounced alarmingly before going head-high to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The immediate fallout of the fiasco was the sacking of the BCCI’s Grounds and Wickets Committee, followed by the resignation of their Delhi counterparts, but long-term repercussions could be far more serious: at stake is Delhi’s status as a host of the 2011 World Cup, though the ICC has said it will follow the prescribed monitoring process before taking any decision.
Match referee Alan Hurst of Australia called off the game following lengthy discussions with the umpires and local officials, leaving some 40,000 home fans at the stadium angry.
The crowd hurled water bottles on to the field and broke chairs as the TV station broadcasting the game reported that the match had been abandoned.
“The decision to abandon the match was taken by myself, in consultation with the umpires and both captains as it was clear that the pitch had extremely variable bounce and was too dangerous for further play,” Hurst said later in a statement.
“I’d like to commend the umpires and captains for continuing as long as they did in the hope that the pitch may settle down.Unfortunately, this did not happen.
“Before abandoning the match, consideration was given to shifting the match to a secondary pitch. However, it was deemed impractical as the secondary pitch was not adequately prepared,” Hurst said.
India won the series by a 3-1 margin gained in the previous match, building on the 2-0 success in the preceding Test series, which lifted Dhoni’s men to the top of the official Test rankings.
Hurst walked to the middle to speak to the umpires when Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara gestured from the sidelines to stop play after what turned out to be the final delivery.
Balls that rose after pitching, while some other deliveries kept low, hit two Sri Lankan batsmen, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya.
Former India captain Bishan Bedi, who lives in New Delhi, said he was ashamed at the turn of events and wanted the local Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) to be penalized.
“I am ashamed that this happened in the Indian capital,” Bedi said.
“The DDCA needs to be put in the dog house. Someone has to pay a heavy price for this.” DDCA President Arun Jaitley regretted the pitch fiasco and promised to refund the gate money.
“The DDCA takes this matter very seriously,” Jaitley said in a statement. “We will look into this matter and do all that is required to ensure that such a situation does not reoccur.” The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said it had disbanded, “with immediate effect,” its grounds and pitches committee, which looks after the preparation of wickets at all centers.
The International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct says a ground that produces an unfit pitch could lose its Test and one-day status for a period of 12 to 24 months.
The Ferozeshah Kotla stadium has been awarded four matches in the 2011 World Cup, which India will co-host with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The tournament will run from February to April that year.
Former India captain and respected TV commentator Sunil Gavaskar, in his pre-match pitch report, had said the scruffy Kotla wicket resembled a “hair transplant” pate.
“It’s a hair transplant pitch with bald patches and some patches of grass,” Gavaskar had said. “Batsmen have to watch out. I am not sure about it. It is difficult to predict what it will do.”
