Afghanistan team will be in Greater Noida from September 9 Afghanistan is set to play a one-off Test match against New Zealand at the Shaheed Vijay Pathik Stadium in K. What makes this match interesting is that it will be a ‘home’ match for Afghanistan due to the political situation in their country. However, as soon as the team reached Delhi for practice, they faced some major problems due to the bad condition of the ground because of the rain.

Due to the continuous rain in the city, the outfield of the Greater Noida Stadium got wet and the training pitch was flooded. The groundsmen were trying to dry the pitch with the help of two table fans. Notably, there is no super sopper on the ground and there are not enough covers to protect the field beyond the 30-yard circle.

Afghanistan captain Hasmatullah Shahid made fun of the wet ground

The condition of the ground prompted heavy criticism from Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahid, who jokingly remarked that they should have brought swimming gear as it was a good place to swim.

“Boys, we should have brought swimming gear with us. We are not going here to play. This is a good place for swimming,” Shahidi said, according to the Indian Express.

Addressing the ground staff, the Afghanistan captain joked that they are used to such conditions but what will they say when the New Zealand team comes on the field.

The Afghan captain said, Sir, we are used to it, but what will you answer to the people of New Zealand?

This will be the first Test match at this stadium in Greater Noida. Earlier in 2017, five ODIs and three T20 matches were played between Afghanistan and Ireland at this stadium.

Earlier in July, the BCCI gave the Afghanistan Cricket Board an NOC to host its home matches in India after a gap of four years. Afghanistan was initially scheduled to host Bangladesh in a full-fledged series against Bangladesh, consisting of three Tests and a few white-ball games. However, due to the extreme heat wave in North India during this period, the series was postponed.