The Greater Noida Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand has been cancelled without a single ball being bowled. Not a single ball could be bowled on Friday either, nor could the toss take place in this Test. Due to heavy rain today, it was decided to cancel the last day’s play early in the morning. Tests have been played in India since 1933 and this is the first time that a Test match has been cancelled on Indian soil without a toss or without a ball being bowled. Before this, only one match in Asia has been cancelled without a ball being bowled. This happened in 1998 in the match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in Faisalabad. Overall, only seven Tests have been cancelled across the world without a ball being bowled.
Not a single ball could be bowled on all five days of this match. The outfield was wet on the first two days, which also raised questions about the readiness of this ground to host international matches. At the same time, play could not take place on the next three days due to rain. This is the eighth such match in the history of Test cricket when the match was cancelled without a ball being bowled. This has happened after 26 years. The last time the match between India and New Zealand ended without a ball being bowled was in 1998. While this happened for the first time in 1890. Now, the stadium of Greater Noida will not even be able to become a Test ground.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board had made full preparations to play the match with New Zealand. New Zealand is a big team. Due to this, the players along with the board were also very excited, but the Afghanistan Cricket Board is regretting choosing the international stadium of Greater Noida. The 2549th match of Test history was to be played between the two countries, but not even a single ball could be bowled. Afghanistan is the host of this match which does not get a chance to play against top teams. This was its 10th Test after getting the status of Test team from ICC in 2017. This Test is not a part of the ICC World Championship cycle. The New Zealand team will now play a two-Test series in Sri Lanka, after which a three-Test series will be played in India from October 16.
