It’s the snow capped mountain behind the college end of the The HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala that most would’ve expected to be the lead image of the 2023 ODI World Cup arriving in town. Ahead of the second game at the venue though, it’s the quality of the outfield that has become the focal point. When asked if he had any reservations about the Dharamsala outfield where his team takes on Bangladesh on Tuesday, England’s captain Jos Buttler would reply, “Yeah, a few.”
“It goes against everything you want to be as a team. You want to dive through a row of houses to save a run. That’s obviously not ideal, the way the surface is, the outfield. We won’t use it as an excuse but it’s certainly going to hold yourself back from a place you want to be as a team.”
Responding to the criticism, an HPCA official told The Indian Express that the state of the field has been owing to constant rains in Dharamsala in the preceding months which put the ground staff in a race against time to prepare ahead of the marquee tournament.
“(Other than IPL in April-May) This is also the best time to host the games. There were record-breaking rains in Dharamsala this time,” the official said before stating that the outfield should improve by the time India play New Zealand on October 22.
The outfield at the HPCA Stadium was brought under the scanner after both Afghanistan and Bangladesh team slipped in their attempts to run after the ball in the first game at this venue. Afghanistan’s coach Jonathan Trott would term Mujeeb Ur Rahman as ‘lucky’ to have escaped a serious injury during his diving attempt in the deep that saw his knee get stuck.
The HPCA official responded to the Mujeeb incident: “Some 20-22 players dived before that but nothing happened. He (Mujeeb) slid on the wrong foot and got stuck. Games have been played in worse outfields than this. This is nothing. Look at the matches that were played in Sri Lanka recently. Look at the grounds in the West Indies.”
Having received an ‘average’ rating for the game, the outfield was deemed good to go for the England-Bangladesh game after an inspection by the ICC’s independent pitch consultant Andy Atkinson in consultation with the match referee for the next game, Javagal Srinath on Sunday.
“Injuries can happen anytime. But it’s definitely a surface where you’re going to want to be even more careful, which isn’t what you want to be doing for your country. You want to put your body on the line. Guys tearing in and needing to bowl fast, they need that confidence. But we’re professionals so we’ll adapt,” Buttler said. “Naturally, you see a ball, you want to dive for it. It’s unique I think to be honest. I know it’s going to be the same for both teams. Hopefully, fingers crossed no one on each side picks an injury.”
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Earlier this year, the third India-Australia Test during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was moved from Dharamsala to Indore after HPCA had relaid the entire outfield in the lead up to the game but failed to prepare it in time for the Test.
“It was at that time that the cross marker was struck against the ground. The grass was still growing at the time and hadn’t even taken roots. The entire outfield was made sand based,” the local official told this newspaper.
Dharamsala is scheduled to host four more games at the ongoing World Cup and has also been named among the five venues for the India-England Test series next year.
