The outfield at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) in Dharamsala for the Bangladesh vs Afghanistan in the ongoing World Cup has been rated average by the ICC. It came under the scanner after Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman escaped an injury with his knee getting jammed after he dived.
As soon as he dived, his knee got jammed that caused some of the soil to kick up as well. This led to the lot of questions being raised about the venue's outfield being of the level to host the World Cup game as well. However, the ICC has confirmed, according to Cricbuzz, that it is comfortable with the conditions on offer at the moment.
Hence, the England vs Bangladesh game on October 10 is set to go ahead as planned with board's independent pitch consultant Andy Atkinson also being comfortable with the conditions. "The process for assessing the condition of the pitch and outfield lies with the match officials under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process and the outfield at Dharamsala was rated as average after the Afghanistan v Bangladesh match. Additionally, the ICC independent pitch consultant has taken a look at the outfield today and is comfortable with the conditions as is Javagal Srinath, the Match Referee for the next game," the ICC spokesperson said.
Moreover, the members of the ground staff were also seen working on the area of the ground where the soil kicked up post Mujeeb's dive. Also, the head curator of the venue Sunil Chauhan also had a close eye as he was inspecting the surface. Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott also raised questions on the outfield in Dharamsala while stating that the players were unsure about putting in a dive after the Mujeeb incident.
"If you've got players unsure of whether they can dive. We see the product of cricket all around the world where players are taught and encouraged to improve their fielding. Then when you've got players worried about getting injured... we're lucky Mujeeb hasn't got a serious knee injury towards the end. Yes he probably shouldn't have dived with his knee but I think it was Devon Conway earlier from New Zealand... It's something for them [organisers] to look at. I'm definitely not putting any blame on that, but that's something to keep an eye on for the future," Trott said in the press conference after the match.
