The ODI fiasco
It could have been an interesting day of cricket in this part of the country, but turned out to be a sad day for the game.

Sandeep Banerjee

DESPITE the series already been decided, a packed turnout of cricket crazy fans and perfect mild weather with light sunshine and a gentle breeze, still there could be no cricket and the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled for unfit ground conditions.

At the very outset, it is questionable why the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) asked for an international match in Guwahati at this time of the year. An ACA official said that giving up the date for another match in rainless period would have meant waiting till September 2007 when Zimbabwe will be visiting India. Guwahati got the last match two and a half year ago. India last played in the venue four years ago. Following the rotation policy of the BCCI, Guwahati will have to wait for two years and seven months for another high profile extravaganza. It could only be earlier if the BCCI overlooks this abandoned match.

This tells how ACA and the public alike were desperate to get play. May be this caused the mistake of asking for a match at this time when Assam usually experience pre-monsoon showers every year. For the record, it has rained in Guwahati for the first 15 days of April every year since 2003. On April 9 in 2004 and 2005, the city had received 1.6 mm and 22.8 mm of rainfall respectively.

Huge pain went in to prepare and deck up the ground and to provide security cover for the players. Lot of effort, in particular, had gone in for preparing quality wicket. Curator of the ground Sunil Baruah, who is known for providing quality wickets of international standard, gave all he had and his work was overseen by BCCI ground and wicket committee member Prabir Mukherjee. It was said that the prepared track was a beauty of a one day track that would have given equal opportunity to both batsmen and bowlers.

Interestingly, the curator and the ground staffs were praying for some rain till the end of March to give nourishment to the green top. It was very dry and dusty till then. The prayer was answered. Only the volume was far more than what was desired for. A disturbance over the sub Himalayan region extending right up to east Assam and Arunachal caused heavy rainfall and thunder showers from the beginning of April. A hailstorm and lasting rain on the match eve actually sealed the fate. The irony came in the form of relatively clear weather in the morning of the match with no showers giving way to clear sunshine by noon. But the damage had already been done earlier.

ACA had only one super sopper. Given the kind of clay in this part of the country that retains moisture, this sopper alone combined with manual hands was simply not enough to make the whole playing area dry. But still ACA and the ground staff did their best. ACA even hired a helicopter to dry the ground. But all in vain. Even after several inspwections, the umpires Rudi Loertzen and A. V. Jaiprakash finally called off the tie at 1.15 PM in the afternoon.

Ever since then, the million dollar question is popping up —— was the ground actually not fit even for a restricted match? ACA is very clear on this. ACA secretary Bikash Baruah categorically stated that by noon the ground was absolutely fit for playing. He hinted that there would be other reasons for the cancellation of the tie but did not elaborate. Mr. Baruah said that he had spoken to ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama in the morning as the field umpires continued to delay the start of the match. “He told me that the decision rested with the umpires. When I took up the matter with them, they said it was all depending on the two captains. When I spoke to Sehwag, he lobbed the ball back to the umpires. May be the England team did not want to play,” Mr. Baruah said. Another senior ACA official had something similar to tell. “When I went in to the players’ dressing room, they said that if the umpires decide they are ready to play. We in the ACA are not at all happy with the decision. We tried our best so that the match could have been played.” Mr. Baruah claims that even the observer Y. Giri has said that the match could be started. “I shall wait for the match referee’s report. Once I get it, I will consider moving the BCCI or even the ICC on this,” ACA secretary said. However umpire Rudi Koertzen said “We have to consider the safety of the players and both camps were adamant that they were far from happy with the bowler run up, parts of the outfield and the slip cordon area. That’s why it has to be called off.”

If the calling off of the match was a shame, a bigger shame unfolded immediately afterwards. The Indian team was to take the ground in Guwahati after a long time. Given the thundershowers from the beginning of April, there was strong apprehension in the mind of everyone as to whether the tie would be possible or not. In the run up to the tie ACA maintained that if there is no rain just on the match day the game is definitely on. May be this promise gave high hopes to the public as the match day saw clear weather with no rain. People started trooping in to Nehru Stadium from as early as four o’clock in the morning. The stadium was full long before the start of the match. The crowd waited patiently as the ground staffs tried utmost to make the ground fit for play. All this while no announcements were made to keep the crowd informed of the progress or hint at the news that the ground was saturated and there was little chance to play. Outwardly, there was every indication that there would be some action. The stumps were even put in position and the creases were marked out. So within minutes of announcement of abandonment, galleries erupted in anger and frustration. The spectators went on rampage and started bonfires tearing down the fencing and hoardings. A section even managed to smash portions of the concrete base of the fencing and began using the brick rubble along with plastic bottles as missilies targeting security personnel, who initially exercised restraint but then resorted to canning. An hour of mayhem saw at least 12 people, including three security personnel getting injured. Three sophisticated Nimbus TV cameras worth over Rs. one crore were also damaged by the spectators. What should have been an interesting day of cricket turned out to be a sad day for the game and a black spot in the credential of Guwahati as an international cricket venue. Past cricketers, officials, eminent media persons, etc. who were present, all were unanimous that the crowd over reacted. Bikash Baruah said “What they did was unfortunate. How can one justify setting fire to television cameras and hurling missiles I think they should have exercised more restraint. The crowd behaviour will harm the future of the game in the State. Now we are left with no other option but to  carry out damage control exercise with BCCI.

The lax security arrangement also came in for severe criticism from many quarters. 2000 security personnel were deployed for the match. ACA and the city administration had claimed that the two tier security arrangement will be fool proof. But it all fell flat due to horrible management of manpower. Kamrup Metropoliton DC Avinash Joshi and Bikash Barua both gave similar statements and faced criticism over security arrangements. “Initially the security personnel maintained restraint to avoid a possible stampede and retaliation from the irate crowd. All credit must go to them for showing their restraint.” It is another thing that many believe that this restraint rather the inaction on the part of the security personnel actually made the trouble to blow out of proportion.

Now the blame game is on. ACA has held the Kamrup administration for the inadequate public address system. On their part, the administration has charged ACA for not even informing about the crowd unrest.

The good news is that the ACA will refund the ticket money to all the ticket holders. The match was insured for Rs. 66 lakhs. So ACA would not be a looser.

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