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The much-awaited India tour of South Africa did not have the start expected as the opening match of the T20I series was completely washed out due to persistent downpour in Durban on Sunday, 10 December. However, they will now move on to Gqeberha for the second T20I, which is set to be played on Tuesday, 12 December.
While the first match of the series was marred by rains, former Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar showed no mercy as he lashed at the Cricket South Africa (CSA). The batting legend was startled at CSA’s preparations for the series opener. He slammed that the Proteas cricket board does not even have covers to cover the ground despite rains in the forecast.
“If the ground remains uncovered and the rain stops, you know it doesn’t start for another one hour. Suddenly it rains again. So there’s no play whatsoever. Everybody (cricket boards) is getting a lot of money. Let’s make no mistake. All the cricket boards have got plenty of money. If they say they don’t, they are lying,” Gavaskar said while speaking to Star Sports.
“They might not have as much money as the BCCI. Fair enough. But every board has got money to buy these covers to cover the entire ground,” he added.
While speaking to the broadcasters, the stalwart also recalled the 2019 World Cup, which saw the maximum number of abandoned matches and no-result games. India’s match against New Zealand in Nottingham was also washed out. “So many World Cup matches in England did not take place because the ground was not covered. The rain had stopped, but the rest of the ground was, you know, wet. So a lot of teams lost points,” he added.
