BHUBANESWAR 26-Oct-2013 153
The fifth ODI between India and Australia here at Barabati Stadium was today called off without a ball being bowled due to soggy outfield, caused by incessant rains for the past five days. Odisha Cricket Association secretary Asirbad Behera made the official announcement two hours before the scheduled start of play.
``Pitch is fit to play, but outfield is still wet and not fit. We knew it from yesterday but as per the BCCI guidelines we had to wait for the inspection of the umpires and the match referee today. Such is the condition of the ground that it would require about four days of sunshine to make it match ready,’’ he said. Behera also announced that the three-day practice match between West Indies and Uttar Pradesh, scheduled to be held at Barabati from October 31 to November 2, has been shifted out of Cuttack.
The abandonment of the match was a sad end to the valiant efforts OCA made to dry up the ground. It also disheartened around 40,000 fans, who had bought tickets to witness the stars of both the teams in action. Even a large number of fans, who had bought tickets defying the downpour, turned up on this morning hoping that the match would start. Ironically, when the match was called off, the stadium was basking in bright sunlight.
Learning from the disappointing experience, a heavy-hearted OCA secretary said the state association would try not to bring any international match in October. ``This is the second time that an India-Australia ODI was abandoned without a ball bowled at Barabati. Earlier in 1996 it also occurred in the month of Octoebr,’’ he recalled.
Behera said OCA had suffered a loss of more than Rs 6 crore because of the abandoned ODI and hoped that the insurance company would compensate it. ``We will be giving a refund of around Rs 3.5 crores to the tickets buyers and Rs 2 crores to in-stadia advertisers,’’ he disclosed.
According to an earlier announcement, refund to ticket holders will be made from November 8 to 15 at the counters of Barabati Stadium. Similarly buyers of online ticket would get back the money through their account directly.
After the match was called off, the Australian team came to the stadium and had a practice session at the Sachin Tendulkar Indoor Stadium, while Team India chose to stay put at the hotel in Bhubaneswar.
The Aussies are now leading the seven-match series 2-1 after winning the first and third games at Pune and Mohali respectively.
The Men in Blue, who the second ODI at Jaipur, had a chance to level the series for the second by winning the fourth game at Ranchi, but rain played spoilsport there too as the match was abandoned with the home team 27 for no loss after 4.1 overs, chasing a challenging target of 296.
It would now be a tough task for India captain M S Dhoni and his team-mates to win the last two games at Nagpur and Bengaluru to clinch the series.
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PHOTO: OCA secretary Asirbad Behera announces the abandonment of the India-Australia 5th ODI in Cuttack on October 26, 2013.
