In a surprising turn of events, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has reversed their position on the choice of Noida as the venue for their one-off Test match against New Zealand.
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).
Initially, an ACB official had strongly criticised the Noida venue, citing concerns about inadequate facilities compared to those available in Afghanistan.
However, the ACB has now walked back on these comments, with the official deeming the rejection of Noida for future matches a mistake. Allegations that the Indian board refused alternative venues in Lucknow and Dehradun were also retracted.
The ACB found itself in a delicate position, with two conflicting statements emerging regarding the venue choice. Fearing a potential strain on its relationship with the BCCI, the Afghan board amended its earlier criticism.
Speaking on the matter, an ACB official stated that Afghanistan’s cricket grounds offer superior f compared to Noida. The official also revealed that their recommendations for Lucknow and Dehradun were turned down, leaving them with Noida as the only available option. Menhajuddin Raz, ACB’s International Cricket Manager, defended the decision, acknowledging the hard work of the Noida ground authorities and suggesting that any venue would have faced similar challenges in preparing on time.
“The BCCI offered us three venues – Kanpur, Bengaluru, and this one. We chose to play at Greater Noida as it was most convenient in terms of logistics. It was a two-hour drive from Delhi airport.
"The venue has always been Afghanistan's home venue. If we talk about back from 2016, we have been playing games here," he added.
"It is because of the rain. Yesterday also, it rained. We had a three-day game here with one of the local teams which went well. We didn't face any issues. But when the rain started and all of this happened."
ACB has hosted 11 white-ball international games here before. The other Indian ground where they have hosted games is Dehradun.
"We had conducted a recce four to six months back, and even the visiting team had done their recce. So there was no issue" Raaz added that ACB considered moving the match to a different venue but the monsoon made it impossible.
"We tried working on a solution to shift the game and they said that because of the same rain, you will not be able to, you know, actually prepare the venue for you in the coming next 24 hours."
It must be noted the third day of the only Test between was also called off because of rain on Wednesday, with the match in danger of being washed out without a ball being bowled.
