File image of the Ranji Trophy© APK
The Ranji Trophy match between Railways and Punjab at New Delhi’s Karnail Singh Stadium was suspended on Wednesday after the course was deemed “dangerous and unfit for play” by match officials, who decided to hold a two-day match at a new surface to play. start on Thursday. A staggering 24 wickets were taken in just 103 overs, 20 of which were fast bowlers when play was stopped by match officials. Punjab were up 18 for 4 in their second essay after leading by 12 runs in the first innings.
“I have never seen such a wicket in Ranji. The bounce was too unpredictable which made the pitch very unsafe. What we have been told is that the match will be played on a fresh pitch,” Punjab batsman Abhishek Sharma told PTI .
“The umpires and match umpire made the right decision to abandon today’s play and restart tomorrow. Players have put a lot of effort into preparing for this match, so disappointed to see such a wicket.” The decision was made during the drinking break in the second session when on-pitch umpires K Madanagopal and Rajeev Godara discussed the matter with match umpire Youraj Singh and also had a talk with both captains – Mandeep Singh of Punjab and Karn Sharma of Railways.
With the Elite Group D match reduced to a two-day affair, a result is highly unlikely, which could affect both Railways and Punjab’s chances in the tournament.
Punjab’s first match had ended in a draw after bad lighting prematurely ended their game against Chandigarh, while the Railways had lost to Vidarbha by 194 runs.
Also in the past, the Karnail Singh Stadium tracks had been in the news for all the wrong reasons, with BCCI’s technical committee putting the venue on a watch list for producing poor pitches in 2011.
A year later, the venue was banned from hosting games for two years after the committee found that local trustees had deliberately under-prepared the wicket to help Railways, forcing the team to move their home ground to Bhubaneswar.
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