Crestfallen cricket fans cause ruckus after 5th ODI called off due to poor pitch

New Delhi, Dec.27 (ANI): Spectators of the fifth one-day-international (ODI) cricket match created a ruckus here after the match being played between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned due to imperfect pitch at Ferozeshah Kotla ground in the national capital.

The agitated cricket fans in the stadium turned violent and started throwing seats in the ground in disgust. Their ire was over the abandonment of the match due to the erratic state of the pitch.

They shouted slogans and vandalised the stadium property like chairs and banners apart from tossing water bottles in the playing area.

“We were here from 5.30 (local time) in the morning, just to watch the match but now there is so much of commotion here. There is huge crowd of people. People are agitated and they are breaking chairs of the stadium. Don’t know what happened exactly,” said Ramprasad, an agitated spectator.

“…Pitches are not good at all. They have hired people on contract to build the pitches. They should be banned for 20 years,” said Santa Singh, another protestor.

Sri Lanka was 83/5 when the match had to be abandoned due to the uneven bounce in the pitch which was proving dangerous for batting side.

During the match, Tillakaratne Dilshan (31) suffered a painful blow on his left elbow off paceman Ashish Nehra, but bravely carried on after treatment before he fell to spearhead fast bowler Zaheer Khan.

Sanath Jayasuriya (20), celebrating his 21st year in international cricket, suffered a blow on his finger when he fended at debutant paceman Sudeep Tyagi as some deliveries leapt up from a good length while others kept low.

Tyagi got the ball to fly past batsman Thilina Kandamby (12 not out) after hitting a crack, forcing the batsmen to speak to the umpires.

Match referee Alan Hurst had a mid-pitch conference with the field umpires and the captains and suspended play before deciding to abandon the match.

Reacting over the incident, BCCI dissolved the pitch and ground committee.

It was the second occasion when a cricket match had to be called off due to poor pitch. Prior to Delhi, similar incident occurred in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) when match had to be called off and it was banned for two years.

“DDCA has made a mess of the pitch. It should own up responsibility,” former Indian cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi was quoted by NDTV as saying.

Sri Lanka had toiled on the tricky surface to reach 83 for five after being put in to bat in foggy conditions when the match was called off after the pitch was deemed too dangerous to play on due to unpredictable bounce.

However, India won the series 3-1. (ANI)

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