A photo of the location in Greater Noida© AFP
Friday is the final day for the one-off Test match Afghanistan vs New Zealand in Greater Noida, but the wait for the first ball of the match is still ongoing. Poor facilities and bad weather have led to the match being called off without a ball being bowled. If that happens, it will be the first time on Indian soil that a Test match has been called off without a ball being bowled. The first time India hosted a Test match was in 1933.
This is the first time in 91 years that a Test match has been called off on Indian soil without a ball being thrown. In Asia, only one match has been called off without a ball being thrown before this. That happened in 1998 in a match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in Faisalabad. In total, only seven Tests have been called off worldwide without a ball being thrown.
“The fourth day of the only Test match between the Afghanistan and New Zealand teams has also been cancelled due to persistent rain,” the Afghanistan Cricket Board said in a statement on Thursday.
It was said that the decision on the start of the match on Friday morning at 8am will be taken after assessment of the stadium.
The city had been experiencing persistent rain over the past week, with the first two days marred by a damp outfield caused by poor drainage on the pitch. Then rain intervened on days three and four, forcing play to be abandoned early.
ACB had earlier indicated that they had offered Kanpur and Bengaluru to host this Test, but they opted for the Greater Noida venue as two other venues were already being used for BCCI matches (the upcoming second Test match between India and Bangladesh and the recently concluded first round of the Duleep Trophy).
The current Test is not part of the World Test Championship, but the New Zealanders will have the chance to acclimatise to the sub-continental conditions in preparation for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka and India in the coming months.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, who played two one-off Test matches against Sri Lanka and Ireland earlier this year, are looking for their first red-ball victory since 2021.
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