A day after Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said that Mujeeb Ur Rahman was lucky to escape serious injury on a visibly patchy Dharamsala outfield, the International Cricket Council has judged it ‘average’ but good to go for Tuesday’s England-Bangladesh game. The verdict on the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium’s outfield comes after an inspection by the ICC’s independent pitch consultant Andy Atkinson on Sunday. “The process for assessing the condition of the pitch and outfield lies with the match officials under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, and the outfield at Dharamsala was rated as ‘average’ after the Afghanistan-Bangladesh match. Additionally, the ICC independent pitch consultant has taken a look at the outfield today, and is comfortable with the conditions – as is Javagal Srinath, the Match Referee for the next game,” an ICC spokesperson stated.
The Dharamsala outfield came under the scanner in the first game of the World Cup at the venue as Mujeeb Ur Rahman nearly got injured while putting in a dive in the deep as he ended up jamming his knee on the hard soil beneath that caused some of the soil to kick up. On Sunday, members of the support staff were seen working on that area of the ground. At the same time, head curator of the venue Sunil Chauhan and a few others went around the ground inspecting the surface. Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott had said his players were unsure of putting in a dive and another member of their team management reckoned that the outfield was not fit for hosting international games but, upon inspection, the ICC - including match referee for the next fixture Javagal Srinath - have given the game a go-ahead. The outfield was watered after the game on Saturday and again on Sunday, with less than 48 hours to go for the next World Cup game at the venue. England opener Jonny Bairstow would also weigh in on the issue during his side’s first training session ahead of their game against Bangladesh. “There’s been a lot of chat about it. It’s just about being smart about it. The last thing you want is guys going off with knee injuries or something. It will be very difficult to hold someone back if they see a ball and they try to stop it – it’s a natural reaction to go for it. You might be a bit more clever about how you go about it – it might affect your angles and where you stand,” Bairstow said.
