Test venues should be banned for poor ground conditions, says Harsha Bhogle

Harsha Bhogle during a media event

The fourth Test between India and West Indies is marred by consistent rain and poor ground conditions with only 22 overs of play in the entire match. Though there was a heavy downpour in the first day itself and later the weather conditions improved, but the incapability of the organisers to drain out the water has made it impossible to play cricket. Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle feels that grounds which fail to organise their scheduled matches should be imposed fines. Play was called off for the third consecutive day on Sunday after umpires Nigel Long and Rod Tucker’s inspection was negative.

As per Harsha’s post on Facebook, the commentator believes that the cricketing world earns a lot of money from television and it should pay-back the broadcasters and advertisers by having as much cricket action as possible.

The West Indies Cricket Board and its administrators are mum about the incidents over the past three days but the WICB’s regional curator feels that if proper steps were taken after Day 1, there would have high possibilities of a normal play in the following days. This is the first time that Queens Park Oval is staging a Test match in the rainy season.

The Hyderabad-born commentator pointed out referring to the South Africa-New Zealand that there are two matches going on simultaneously which have been affected by rain. He also feels that Tests should not be given to venues at the time of the year when it is not suitable to play cricket.

Previously, during England’s tour to the West Indies in 1998, the first Test which, being played at Sabina Park in Jamaica, was abandoned a few minutes after the start after the umpires declared that the pitch was not safe for batting.

A few decades ago, the West Indies were not prone to host Test matches after the month of May, but after the introduction of the glamorous Indian Premier League and other domestic T20 tournaments, the WICB had no other option than to host matches in the rainy season when the schedule is less cramped. 

The Indian team led by the Delhi-sensation Virat Kohli has taken a series winning 2-0 lead in the on-going test series and would have wanted to wrap up the series with a 3-0 margin.