AFG vs NZ: Greater Noida Stadium Manager breaks silence on severe criticism after shambolic humiliation

The manager of the Greater Noida cricket stadium has hit back at the critics for slamming the ground's infrastructure and match preparedness for the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand.

It is well known that rain has severely affected this match in Greater Noida which has left the cricket fans disappointed.

Severe rain and continuous wet ground conditions throughout the five days in Greater Noida forced the match officials to call off this Test.

Not even a toss was possible in all five days which has put severe questions on the Gretaer Noida stadium's facilities.

It was the eighth instance in Test history that a match was abandoned without even a ball bowled.

The last time it happened was in 1998 between New Zealand and India at Dunedin. The abandonment has also put questions on the Board of control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not providing enough facilities for an international stadium.

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Greater Noida Stadium manager breaks silence on severe criticism

Amidst all the criticism coming across the world, the venue manager of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida spoke to Radio Channel 93.5 Red FM and claimed that the match was not happening due to excessive rain. He even gave the example of a few (Delhi Premier League) DPL 2024 matches being abandoned due to rain.

“The Afghanistan team had arrived on 30 August and they played a 3-day (intra-squad) match from 1-2 September where they scored more than 300 runs. We delivered the pitch as per coach Jonathan Trott’s demand,” the stadium manager said.

"The rain is causing the major trouble which isn’t in our hands. The closest stadium to this one is Delhi (Arun Jaitley Stadium) where the downpour has resulted in the cancellation of (DPL 2024) matches. The showers are so heavy that the water penetrates the covers despite enveloping the entire ground," he added.

"Kuch logon ko content chahiye hote hain" - Greater Noida cricket stadium manager

The concerned authority also mentioned that Afghanistan is well aware of this ground as they have played a few internationals here before.

He later claimed that people just need content which is the reason why they are destroying the reputation of the ground.

“And it’s not that Afghanistan are not aware of this ground. It has been their home venue for three years and they surely have trained in rainy conditions. Had their board been unaware, they wouldn’t have approved this venue to host the game,” the stadium manager argued.

"Kuch logon ko content chahiye hotein hain, unko reality nahi jaan na (People just need content and don’t want to know the reality),” he claimed.

Ground staff's efforts in vain

Not only continuous rain, but the facilities on the ground were also questionable. The ground staff used basic things like electric fans to dry the wet patches and even tried digging up and refilling a wet outfield area with dry soil to make the ground ready. But the monsoon season in India and the lack of sunlight played its part as well.

Afghanistan gained Test status in 2017 along with Ireland. They have played just nine Tests so far and are not even included in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. This makes every single Test match extremely important for their growth.

They played their inaugural Test match against India in Bengaluru in 2018 where they lost to the host nation by an innings and 262 runs.