2nd T20I, India vs Australia: Sunless wet patch in front of pavilion in Nagpur haunts VCA | Cricket News – Times of India

NAGPUR: The outfield at the North end, where the pavilion and press box are located, at Nagpur’s Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA), Jamtha, continues to haunt the association. The India-Australia second T20 on Friday was delayed due the same patch being damp.
Though it did not rain much in the city in the last couple of days, the area was not in a playing condition, raising a few eyebrows over the preparedness of the association.
This particular area in the stadium does not receive sunlight throughout the year due to the elongated roof of the top floor of North end. It has proved to be a chronic problem for VCA. The hosts are always caught on the wrong foot when it rains ahead of or during the match.

During the pre-match show, India’s former coach Ravi Shastri said, “Every ground in the world has a few vulnerable patches like these. And players would not want to take any chances ahead of the forthcoming T20 World Cup.”
This is not the first time that the start was delayed due to the same reason.
In 2010, the India-New Zealand Test match at the venue was also delayed. In that match, India coach Rahul Dravid had scored 191 runs and Harbhajan Singh had taken 10 wickets to guide India to a big victory.
In yet another incident, a Ranji Trophy match between Vidarbha and Punjab in 2019 was delayed due to the same reason.
On Friday, both the on-field umpires — KN Ananthapadmanabhan and Nitin Menon — were concerned about players’ safety.
“That patch is the area of concern. We do not want players to get injured,” said KN Ananthapadmanabhan, one of the two on-field umpires. His partner Nitin Menon, said, “Underneath it is still moving, and it is not drying as quickly as expected.”