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| Unfit pitch forces ODI abandonment • Feroz Shah Kotla ground may be banned from 2011 World Cup• Sri Lanka batsmen felled by unpredictable bounceA year during which India climbed to the top of the ICC's Test rankings ended in rancour, with the one-day international at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground being called off after the pitch was deemed too dangerous for play. India had already won the series 3-1 to cement their second-placed ranking in the ODI table, but today's cancellation raises serious doubts about Delhi's ability to host the four games allotted to it during the 2011 World Cup.However, Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, said that Delhi would not be punished for the abandonment before an investigation was held. "It is not fair to say it hangs in the balance because you cannot comment until you know what the facts are," Lorgat told Cricinfo.The Board of Control for Cricket in India responded to the fiasco by dissolving its grounds and pitches committee, while the Delhi District Cricket Association apologised to fans and spectators and offered to refund the cost of tickets.Sri Lanka stuttered to 83 for five on a surface where grass sprouted in patches. The odd ball shot through, while others reared disconcertingly and when one from Sudeep Tyagi, a medium-pace bowler making his debut, nearly went for four byes over Mahendra Singh Dhoni's head, the Sri Lankan team management had seen enough. Following a midfield conference between the Sri Lanka captain, Kumar Sangakkara, his India counterpart, Dhoni, the on-field umpires and the match referee Alan Hurst, play was temporarily suspended. The officials, who were joined by members of the staging association, headed for the pavilion for a closed-room discussion before the match was eventually called off.Angry spectators tore down hoardings, broke chairs and threw bottles on to the field of play. "Before abandoning the match, consideration was given to shifting the match to a secondary pitch," said Hurst afterwards. "However, it was deemed impractical as the secondary pitch was not adequately prepared."For the Delhi cricket association, the decision was another setback after recent grumblings about the relaid square. The pitches for the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 games were far from ideal for the format, and when Australia arrived at the Kotla to train before a one‑ day game in October, they found damp and unusable practice pitches and no curator. "I wonder how a pitch which was not used even for Ranji Trophy matches was used for the one‑dayer," said Bishan Singh Bedi, under whose guidance Delhi became a force at national level. "Action should be taken against them [DDCA] but that is BCCI's job."Tillakaratne Dilshan was hit on the left forearm by Ashish Nehra, while Sanath Jayasuriya, who was supposed to be celebrating 20 years as an international, was also struck a couple of painful blows by deliveries that reared from a good length.Bedi believed the blame rested squarely on the local DDCA. "The DDCA has made a mess of this and they should own up to the responsibility gracefully. They have had enough time between the Champions League and the series against Australia to prepare for this match."The former Test player Abbas Ali Baig indicated the match ought to have been called off sooner. "It's extremely disappointing that a situation like this should have arisen," Baig said. "The authorities should have taken care to ensure that the pitch was OK. From the word go, you could see there were spots on the pitch, there were areas which didn't have any grass at all and other areas which had plenty of it. I thought from the very beginning that something or the other would go awry."I always thought very highly of the groundsman in Delhi, but I'm not sure what had gone wrong this time. But it's unfortunate that it happened to a very important match, not in terms of the result and the context of the series, but for the retention of interest for the people of Delhi."The former captain and ex-chairman of selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar, said: "It is shameful that this kind of pitch is prepared for an international match. Some deliveries were rearing up even from the good length which is not good for cricket. The BCCI Grounds and Pitches Committee must be held responsible and DDCA have to answer a lot of questions."The last time a game was called off in similar circumstances in India was more than 12 years ago in Indore. Sri Lanka were the visiting team that time, too. "[The] DDCA regrets the inconvenience caused to all spectators and others. We offer our apologies to them. All gate tickets will be refunded," said Arun Jaitley, who heads the local association. "We will look into this matter and do all that is required to ensure that such a situation doesn't reoccur." With the ICC guidelines recommending a 12-24-month ban for such breaches, an apology may be nowhere near enough.CricketIndia Cricket TeamSri Lanka cricket teamDileep Premachandranguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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