An ACB official has reportedly revealed that Greater Noida was chosen as a venue for the one-off Afghanistan v New Zealand Test due to its better connectivity with Kabul, despite the poor condition of the playing area.
The first two days of the Test match have both been called off, despite no rain falling during playing hours. Overnight downpours have left the outfield waterlogged, with the drainage facilities unable to cope with the amount of water that fell. The umpires conducted several inspections on both days but deemed the conditions underfoot too dangerous to get play underway.
Umpire Kumar Dharmasena told the host broadcaster at the end of day one, "When you compare it with 10am till now, there's an improvement but we're worries about five to six patches inside the 30-yard circle. One area of the run up does not look comfortable. It's a player safety issue. We even saw one player get injured yesterday as well, we know how hard it is."
On day two, the ground staff used electric fans to try and dry the outfield after another overnight shower which left the outfield "completely flooded". They also cut strips of grass out of dry areas and put them on damp areas in an attempt to dry them. However, play was called off at 2:55pm before the toss was able to take place.
Greater Noida has never hosted a Test match before, although it has hosted international white-ball matches since 2017. It has operated primarily as a ground for Afghanistan to play international cricket at as a quasi-home venue, given international cricket is still not able to take place inside Afghanistan.
However, given the higher quality of ground and outfield needed to sustain five days of Test cricket than one of white-ball, concerns have been raised as to whether another ground should have been chosen for the match. Afghanistan have previously played Test matches at neutral venues in Dehradun, Lucknow and Abu Dhabi.
Greater Noida was reportedly chosen as the host venue due to it being closer to Delhi and having better connectivity from Kabul - Afghanistan's capital - meaning the possibility of drawing greater crowds to the match. Kanpur and Bengaluru were also reportedly offered as hosts by the BCCI.
An Afghanistan team official also reportedly told ESPNcricinfo that the players were unhappy with the facilities at the venue in Greater Noida, and that it is possible the team may not want to play at the ground in the future. The official also reportedly said that the team had wanted to play the match in Lucknow, Dehradun or Kanpur, which was not possible because of the T20 leagues being hosted in Lucknow and Dehradun, and the stadium in Kanpur being prepared for the second Test between India and Bangladesh later this month.
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