IND vs SA: Fog created problem in Lucknow, match between India and South Africa could not be held

The fourth match of the 5-match series between India and South Africa was to be played on Wednesday at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow but the toss could not be held due to fog. Toss time was 6:30 pm. The match officials waited for 3 hours and after the last inspection at 9:25 pm, the match was declared abandoned. There was no clear visibility due to fog, due to which the match was cancelled.

BCCI in the circle of questions

After the cancellation of the match, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come under the scanner. The board is being criticized for holding night matches in North India in the month of December. Many domestic matches have been affected due to poor visibility in this part of the country in recent years. A large number of fans had come to Ekana Stadium for this match but they had to go home without seeing any cricketing action.

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repeated inspection

The first inspection took place at 6:50 after a delay in the toss. After this, the umpires inspected at 7:30 pm, 8:00 pm, 8:30 pm, 9:00 pm and again at 9:25 pm but after no improvement was seen in the visibility, the match was finally canceled. BCCI Vice President, Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) President Rajeev Shukla also reached the ground and all possibilities to start the match were explored but no solution could be found. Initially even the pitch was not visible from the spectators’ gallery.

India’s T20 World Cup preparations have suffered a major setback due to the match not being held in Lucknow. Now Team India has only 6 matches left to test its preparations to defend its title. The last match of this series will be played in Ahmedabad on Friday.

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The match was also canceled in Pakistan due to fog

This is not the first time that an international cricket match has been canceled due to fog. Earlier in December 1998, the Test match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in Faisalabad was affected due to fog. Visibility was so low that not a single ball could be bowled in that match. This was the last match of the 3 test match series. Zimbabwe benefited from the cancellation of the match and won the series 1-0.