Afghanistan vs New Zealand Greater Noida One-off Test: More gloom for both teams as Day 3 washed out too

It was a disastrous third day which culminated in the play being abandoned for Day 3 of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand in Greater Noida on Wednesday (September 11), barely an hour after scheduled start of play. The dismal state of affair at Greater Noida’s Sports Complex Ground for the third successive day as torrential overnight rain as well as steady rain on Wednesday morning meant that there was no chance of getting the ground fit for play.

The first two days of the game were called off without a ball bowled due to a wet outfield, raising serious questions over the preparedness of the venue in Greater Noida. Considering the weather over Greater Noida, the match officials did not take long to rule out any possibility of play on Wednesday.

“Afghanistan versus New Zealand Day 3 is called off due to persistent rains. The match will commence with 98 overs from tomorrow if the skies get clear,” said the Afghanistan Cricket Board in a release.

Afghanistan, who don’t get to play top teams often, are the hosts of the game. At the end of second day’s play, ACB officials confirmed that the team were offered three grounds, including Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) home turf at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, but the Afghan team had themselved picked Noida to host this Test.

“The BCCI offered us three venues – Kanpur, Bengaluru, and this one. We chose to play at Greater Noida as it was most convenient in terms of logistics. It was a two-hour drive from Delhi airport,” ACB’s international cricket manager Menhajuddin Raz told reporters at the end of second day’s play on Tuesday.

“The venue has always been Afghanistan’s home venue. If we talk about back from 2016, we have been playing games here,” Raaz added.

 

Not the news we wanted to share!

Heavy overnight rain and ongoing drizzle have resulted in Day 3 of the One-Off #AFGvNZ Test being washed out. Officials will assess the conditions again tomorrow morning.#AfghanAtalan | #GloriousNationVictoriousTeam pic.twitter.com/UOUR4oc2zx

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) September 11, 2024

Greater Noida has been receiving incessant rainfall for the past two weeks, which ACB claims has played spoilsport. “It is because of the rain. Yesterday also, it rained. We had a three-day game here with one of the local teams which went well. We didn’t face any issues. But when the rain started and all of this happened,” Raaz said.

Afghanistan Cricket Board has hosted 11 white-ball international games here before. The other Indian ground where they have hosted games is in Dehradun. “We had conducted a recce four to six months back, and even the visiting team had done their recce. So there was no issue,” Raaz informed.