AFG vs NZ: Test abandoned without a ball bowled
Following rain on day three, four, and five, the series have been washed out without a single bowl being bowled
Afghanistan's one-off Test against New Zealand was abandoned on Friday without a ball being bowled after rain washed out the fifth and final day in India's Greater Noida Stadium.
The Test became the eighth match in the format's history to be abandoned for all five days.
The toss was delayed on the first and second day as the day was spent waiting for the field to dry due to lack of proper facilities available for such a condition.
The ground staff was unable to dry the field without modern facilities even though there was no rain in Noida throughout the day.
In this condition, the grounds men dragged out tarpaulin to cover areas of the pitch in anticipation of more rain, while others held electric fans over some of the worst wet patches on Tuesday.
Ground staff also dug up a wet patch — in the cover-point and mid-wicket region — and were filling it with dry soil and fresh turf.
In this regard, the venues were heavily criticised by the Afghanistan Cricket Board. The board official said: "We raised concerns over these issues and they assured us that these issues will be addressed."
The board further stated that this match is part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship and witnessing the mismanagement, it has decided that the team will not play any match at this venue in future.
However, the ACB later reversed their position on the choice of Noida as the venue. This decision, as reported by Indian media, appears to be aimed at maintaining cordial relations with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
"The venue has always been Afghanistan's home venue. If we talk about back from 2016, we have been playing games here," one of the officials said.
Following rain on day three, four, and five, the series have been washed out without a single bowl being bowled.
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