Greater Noida Cricket Stadium, facing flak for poor facilities, was once banned by BCCI

The Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Stadium, also known as the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, is drawing attention for its inadequate drainage facilities, with the first two days of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand being called off without the toss even taking place . All eyes are now on Wednesday, with hopes that the match can begin on Day 3 if conditions improve.

The Greater Noida Stadium is facing a lot of flak for its poor drainage system and lack of modern facilities to get the outfield ready in time. For example, it did not rain much on Tuesday but the wet outfield, as a result of overnight rain, resulted in Day 2 being called off.

The groundstaff at the Greater Noida Stadium tried many things to get the outfield ready including digging up the outfield, replacing it with grass patches from the training ground, and using fans and super soppers to dry the surface but nothing came to their rescue.

The abysmal situation at the ground led to fans slamming the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Greater Noida Stadium for offering an unprepared stadium for the match.

Afghanistan are playing their home Test match in India due to security threats back home.

However, this is not the first time the Greater Noida Stadium has been in the news for the wrong reasons. The Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Stadium which has been operational since 2013 became the home of the Afghanistan cricket team in 2014 after they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and the BCCI.

The Greater Noida Stadium is managed by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority and not by the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association. It also hosted Duleep Trophy pink-ball matches in 2016 but was banned by the BCCI in 2017 due to match-fixing during corporate matches. It has not hosted BCCI-affiliated matches since then, however, Afghanistan continued to play matches in Greater Noida as the stadium has been approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Interestingly, the BCCI had also offered the Green Park in Kanpur to Afghanistan for the New Zealand match but they picked the Greater Noida Stadium as it was closer to Delhi.

Greater Noida Stadium international matches

Overall the Greater Noida Stadium has hosted 11 international matches, all involving Afghanistan. The last match was the T20 between Afghanistan and Ireland in March 2020, which finished in a tie.

Greater Noida Cricket Stadium ODIs

Greater Noida Cricket Stadium T20Is