India’s tour of South Africa got underway in Durban on Sunday but thanks to persistent rain, the first T20I of a three-match series between the two teams was washed out without toss.
India and South Africa only have a limited number of T20Is – six each – in the lead up to the world cup next year and Sunday’s washout means they now are left with five each which surely will dent their preparations.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar though was unhappy with Cricket South Africa for not being adequately equipped to make sure the ground was fully covered in the event of rain.
Gavaskar said cricket boards have enough money to buy covers that can cover the entirety of the ground which may prevent outfield from being soaked and thus avoid delaying the start of a game once rain stops.
“If the ground remains uncovered and the rain stops, you know it doesn’t start for another one hour. Suddenly it rains again. So there’s no play whatsoever. Everybody is getting a lot of money. Let’s make no mistake. All the cricket boards have got plenty of money. If they say they don’t, they are lying. They might not have as much money as the BCCI. Fair enough. But every board has got money to buy these covers to cover the entire ground,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Hen then pointed out how several matches in England during the 2019 ODI World Cup were impacted due to weather. As many as four matches were washed out due to rain during the 2019 ODI showpiece.
“So many World Cup matches in England did not take place because the ground was not covered. The rain had stopped, but the rest of the ground was, you know, wet. So a lot of teams lost points. South Africa, I remember that they wanted to play against some team and the match didn’t take place or something had happened, mainly because the outfield was wet,” Gavaskar said.
“What the boards need to do now is to cover the entire ground. Let’s have no excuse. I remember I think there was one Test match at Eden Gardens where there was some problem and the game didn’t start. Next game, Eden Gardens had the entire ground covered. That is the kind of initiative that you want to have. Sourav Ganguly was the man in charge and he made sure that nobody could point the finger at Eden Gardens,” he added.
Comments
0 comment