Following two incidents that disrupted the India – South Africa match played at the Barsapara cricket stadium in Guwahati on Monday, the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) on Monday played them down, calling both incidents a common occurrence.
The ACA mentioned footages of the snake on the field should be shown on Discovery and National Geographic channels as to how the snakes were swiftly removed from the ground without causing any harm to them.
Addressing the media today on the incident when a light tower went out causing the game to be paused for a moment, the ACA said that a malfunction in the MCB caused the floodlights to go out.
The governing body for cricket in Assam said, “Not a single ball was missed due to the incident. It is a common occurrence. There was fault with the MCB due to which the light tower went out.”
The ACA thanked reporters and media persons for covering yesterday’s match and providing all updates leading the showpiece encounter in Guwahati.
Speaking further on the issue at hand, ACA said, “The lights went out for a short while as the MCB tripped. It takes 15 minutes of time for the lights turn on again, which caused the delay. It is very common and happens all over the world.”
“Metal Halide technology which is used in the floodlights have been in place for the last 10 years. We will now take steps to replace them with LED lights,” they said.
Meanwhile, speaking on another questionable incident involving a snake entering the field of play that stopped the match for a while, ACA said that fans were left entertained due to it.
ACA said, “A snake was spotted during the match and the fans were entertained for a while. This is not the first such incident. Similar instances have occurred around the world. A snake coming out in such a large area is not a very big issue.”
They further said, “Switching the lights on and off repeatedly can sometimes cause some of them to go out. We had 15 generators for power back-up during the game,” stressing that it was not a big issue.
Moreover, ACA also addressed complaints of peddlers selling water bottles and other items inside the stadium during the match at prices higher than the MRP, saying that cases will be registered by the governing body against all who were found to violate the rules.
Moving away from the controversies, the ACA informed that discussions are being held on how to organize Test Matches and IPL matches in future at the Barsapara cricket stadium.
The ACA pointed out at Virat Kohli’s tweet praising the atmosphere at the stadium. Kohli had praised the city and fans for showing up and supporting the team via a post on Twitter.
Furthermore, the cricket governing body took a sly dig at commentator Harsha Bhogle who was surprised by the snakes appearing on the field and tweeted on it. ACA said, “It is good that it was memorable for Harsha Bhogle. He never witnessed people disrupting games or other animals like dogs, but he saw the snake only.”
In addition, Digambar Bodo, who is a ground technician at the stadium, will be felicitated for the good work in safely taking the snakes out of the ground, announced ACA.
It may be noted that during the first innings as India was batting, two snakes were witnessed on the screens taking a stroll on the field. The incident had briefly brought the game to a stop and they were soon escorted out safely by the ground staff.
Later in the second inningns with South Africa batting, a light tower went out due to malfuction which paused the game for a longer duration, raising questions on the ACA.
