Rain and the state of the outfield at Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground rendered the third day of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand a non-starter. Play was abandoned as early as 9.15 am.
With no play possible on either of the first two days, and the toss yet to happen, the chances of a result in the first ever Test between these sides are slim.
There was a downpour last evening for about two to three hours and another one from around 7am on Wednesday morning, which was enough for the umpires Sharfuddoula and Kumar Dharmasena call off the day before the scheduled start at 9.30 am.
The word from the broadcasters was that “the outlook is quite grim for not just today, but potentially all five days of the Test match”.
There has been scrutiny over the choice of venue and its capacity to recover from bad weather, but the Afghanistan Cricket Board cricket manager Menhajuddin Raz sent out a message on the third morning that “there is no blame game at all from anyone, it’s just extremely bad luck.”
The previous time the first three days of a Test were abandoned was in 2008, when Bangladesh hosted New Zealand in Mirpur, and the last time three or more days were abandoned in a Test was in 2016, when New Zealand played South Africa in Durban. This Greater Noida Test could join seven others that were abandoned without a ball being bowled – the last of which was in 1998.
This is only Afghanistan’s tenth match since they were given Test status in 2017. For New Zealand, the one-off Test marks the start of their subcontinent expedition which includes two Tests in Sri Lanka followed by three in India. Unlike those five fixtures, this one is not part of the World Test Championship.
Ekanth is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
