The Afghanistan vs. New Zealand one-off Test in Greater Noida ends on Friday, but the action doesn’t start until the first ball is delivered. Due to inadequate facilities and bad weather, the game is probably going to be canceled before a ball is bowled. If that does happen, it will be the first Test match to be called off without a ball being played on Indian soil. India hosted a Test match for the first time in 1933.
Thus, if a Test match on Indian soil is canceled without a ball being bowled, it will be the first such cancellation in 91 years. There had only been one cancelled match in Asia prior to a ball being bowled. It occurred during a Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe match in Faisalabad in 1998. Globally, there have only been seven abandoned Test matches without a ball being bowled.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the fourth day of the one and only Test match between the teams from Afghanistan and New Zealand will also not be played because of the ongoing rain.
It stated that the stadium evaluation would be the basis for determining when the game would begin on Friday morning at 8:00.
The city has experienced incessant rain for the last week, and the first two days were marred by an overly wet outfield caused by a poor ground drainage system. The play had to be abandoned early on days three and four due to weather.
The ACB had earlier said that they were offered the chance to stage this Test in either Bengaluru or Kanpur; however, they opted for the Greater Noida location since the other two venues—the just-ended Duleep Trophy round one and the impending India-Bangladesh second Test—were already being used for BCCI matches.
The Kiwis will get the chance to get used to subcontinental conditions before the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka and India in the next months, even if the current Test is not a part of the World Test Championship.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, is looking for its first baseball victory since 2021. They have already played two one-off Test matches this year against Ireland and Sri Lanka.
