Motera cricket stadium sinks under heavy rains
Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera was submerged in water after heavy rains lashed the city, flooding the cricket ground. The rains were so heavy that the ground was flooded with almost eight to 10 feet of water. The rains are said to have stopped on Monday, but even with the stadium personnel pumping out the water, there is a lot of damage expected.
Motera was to host the first India-New Zealand Test match this year in November, but with heavy damages expected, it remains to be seen whether the ground will be fit in time for the game.
According to the secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association, Rajesh Patel, the ground was filled with so much water that eight heavy-duty pumps have had to be called to remove it. He also said that the process was continuously on, and it will not be before Wednesday that the entire ground drained. He added that the rains were so heavy that the ground’s drainage system could not take the load.
Motera is one of the Test grounds in India and apart from hosting the India-New Zealand Test match, will host some games in the 2011 edition of the World Cup. It is a high-scoring ground, and in the last ODI that was played here, South Africa had piled on 365/2 in the 50 overs.
It is not too different a story in Test matches, as the ground has had the reputation of assisting the pace bowlers in the first session of the Test match before turning into a flat, batting paradise, affording no assistance to any bowler. In a Test match in 2008, India were bundled out for 76 in the first innings thanks to the grass on the track, and then, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 went on to lose the game by an innings.
Again, the same pattern repeated in the next game that was played here between India and Sri Lanka, as the hosts batted first and lost four wickets for next to nothing. However, they recovered to score in excess of 400. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 went much ahead, as they made 760, before the game ended in a draw thanks to a 412/4 by India.
Tags: