Napier: In a bizarre event, play was interrupted during the 1st ODI between India and New Zealand, when the sun made it difficult for the batsmen to spot the ball, leading to an interruption that has never been seen in international cricket before. The decision to halt play was taken keeping the players’ safety in mind and sunstroke considerations, on-field umpire Shaun George said.
“The setting sun is in the eyes of the players and we need to think of their safety as well as umpires. There was an awareness of it by the players (they didn’t appeal),” said the umpire.
However, fans taking to Twitter expressed their disbelief to the turn of event as something like sun forcing play to halt has happened for the first time. Here’s how the netizens have reacted.
Stoppages due to sun have been witnessed in the past here during the domestic competitions, and reportedly, also in few English grounds, but none of them were international matches. Usually, the cricket pitches are positioned in the North-South direction to avoid this scenario, but at McLean Park, the pitch is East-West facing.
Talking about the match, India chasing 158 were cruising at 44 for one in 10 over when play was stopped. Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan were batting on 2 and 29 respectively.
With PTI Inputs.
