Fog abandons Lucknow T20: When was the last time a cricket match was abandoned due to fog?

The fourth T20I between India and South Africa in Lucknow on Wednesday was abandoned due to “excessive fog” without a ball being bowled. The unprecedented situation triggered a massive furore among fans, who demanded refunds from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), while images of Hardik Pandya wearing a mask amid high air pollution in the Uttar Pradesh city sparked a fresh debate.

The clamour we are witnessing is not out of the ordinary, as it’s extremely rare for a cricket match to be called off due to fog. The match officials made various attempts to get the match started, but things were never going to improve as we went deep into the evening. After multiple inspections, the match was eventually called off at 9:25 pm local time.

Lucknow T20I and the rare fog-outs in international cricket

Interestingly, this is not the first time an international cricket match has been abandoned due to fog. Pakistan’s third Test against Zimbabwe at Faisalabad in 1998 was also abandoned due to fog. The match was scheduled to be played between 17 and 21 December 1998; however, no play was possible on all five days.

Due to extremely cold conditions and wind, the whole city was engulfed in thick fog, significantly reducing visibility and making it impossible to play a cricket match. Yet, as umpires did not have the right to call off the match, they continued to conduct multiple inspections on all five days.

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Saleem Badar (Pakistan) and Doug Cowie (New Zealand) were the two umpires for the match. In an interview with The Dawn on Day 2, Cowie said that the decision to call off the match was to be taken by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Zimbabwe Cricket.

“Of course, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Zimbabwe Cricket Union can mutually agree to abandon the game for the rest of the days. We will have to keep on making inspections of the ground and take decisions as we have been doing up till now,’’ said Cowie.

In a desperate attempt to host the match, the organisers also transported the super sopper from Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to Faisalabad to have the field ready in quick time in case the fog subsides, but that never happened, and the match was eventually abandoned without a ball being bowled on Day 5.

As a result, Zimbabwe won the three-match Test series 1-0, having won the first game by seven wickets and drawn the second one.