The condition of the outfield at the HPCA stadium in Dharamsala was once again called into question in what was its first game of the 2023 World Cup. The outfield had looked patchy and devoid of enough grass cover even on the eve of the game, and nearly led to an injury in Saturday’s fixture. Afghanistan’s Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman attempted a dive at deep backward square leg but ended up jamming his knee into the hard ground and fell awkwardly as some of the mud kicked up on impact.
A member of the Afghanistan team management told Cricbuzz that in the current condition, the venue isn’t ready for international cricket. “Yeah, it is sad to see. It is a beautiful place to play cricket…it [outfield] is not ready for international cricket. Not okay. Right now it is not good for international cricket. Maybe it is because of rain… but yeah it is not ready now,” he said.
“The curator says lots of rain happened but if it continues like this, someone will get injured on the ground. No one wants to dive or slide and in cricket you should be able to do that,” he added.
This isn’t the first time the outfield has been under the scanner. Earlier this year, the third Test between India and Australia was shifted out owing to the ‘lack of grass density’ in the outfield. In mid-September, there was reported to have been a fungus infestation on the outfield that had to be sorted out quickly.
Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott revealed that the conditions were such that players were unsure of whether they could dive, and that Mujeeb was lucky to get away without a serious injury.
“If you’ve got players unsure of whether they can dive…,” Trott said in the post-match press conference. “We see the product of cricket all around the world where players are taught and encouraged to improve their fielding. Then when you’ve got players worried about getting injured… we’re lucky Mujeeb hasn’t got a serious knee injury towards the end.”
“Yes he probably shouldn’t have dived with his knee but I think it was Devon Conway earlier from New Zealand… It’s something for them [organisers] to look at. I’m definitely not putting any blame on that, but that’s something to keep an eye on for the future,” he said.
In just two more days’ time, the next game at this venue – between Bangladesh and England – will take place while India will play New Zealand here on October 22. It remains to be seen whether
