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Afghanistan Test and ODI skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi has taken a sly dig at the groundsman of the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground for its torrid condition. Noida has faced persistent rains recently, which is why the ground isn’t ready for the practice sessions. The Asian side will host New Zealand for a one-off Test starting on September 9.
Just days ahead of the match, Hashmatullah Shahidi, who was felicitated by the UP Police with a bouquet, said that the state of the ground is such that it is a good place to swim. After this, the left-hander turned towards the officials and mentioned that his players are used to these things. Then, he asked them about how the New Zealand side would cope with the current conditions.
"Boys, we should have brought our swim gear. No way we are going to play here. Good place to swim. Sir hum logo ko aadat hai, but New Zealand waalon ko kya jawaab doge (We have trained in much poorer conditions, but what would you say to the New Zealand team management)," the Afghan captain was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
For those who don’t know, Afghanistan play their home games in Greater Noida due to the security situation back in their own country
New Zealand and Afghanistan will play Tests for the first-time
Notably, Afghanistan became the Test nation only in 2018. While both the Black Caps and Afghans have played each other in a handful of ODIs and T20Is, they have never played a Test against each other. On the other hand, the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground will also host its first Test.
Before this, this venue hosted five ODIs and three T20Is between Afghanistan and Ireland back in 2017. In July this year, the BCCI issued a NOC to the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) to play their home games at this ground. Afghanistan was meant to host Bangladesh for an all-format series in India a while back but the series was postponed due to excessive heat.
