India has played many historic matches on the ground of Feroza Shah Kotla (now Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium), but on this ground 13 years ago, India was embarrassed without playing a full match.
Image Credit source: AFP
Many historical matches have been played on the ground of Feroz Shah Kotla (now Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium). This is the same ground where Anil Kumble did the feat of taking 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan. Many histories have been created on this ground, but what happened on this ground 13 years ago has put Indian cricket to shame. The matter is of 27 December 2009. India and Sri Lanka team came here to play ODI match.
The whole stadium was visible in enthusiasm. Both India and Sri Lanka teams were also ready, but no one had any idea what was going to happen here in the coming one to one and a half hours. The first ball was bowled, followed by the second, then the third.. As the match progressed, both the teams realized that their lives were in danger.
Pitch broke his arms and legs
The Kotla pitch broke the hands and legs of the Sri Lankan players in that match. The pitch was very dangerous. The ball was bouncing in a strange way. Indian captain MS Dhoni also had to struggle to catch the ball. Seeing the dangerous and deadly nature of the pitch, the match was stopped only after 23.3 overs. The players’ elbows, shoulders, fingers were all broken on this pitch. The ball hit everywhere.
Committee was dismissed
Sunil Gavaskar, looking at the pitch at that time, had said that looking at it, it looks as if someone has got a hair transplant done and the space in the middle has been left empty. Due to the dangerous pitch, the ground and wicket committee of BCCI was dismissed. However, matches of the 2011 World Cup were played on the same pitch only after a year, while generally international matches are stopped there for some time if such a pitch is found.
The ball hit Jayasuriya
In this match, Zaheer Khan gave India the first success by bowling opener Upul Tharanga on the first ball. After this, Tillaratne Dilshan was hit on the elbow by Ashish Nehra’s ball. The ball had made marks on Sanath Jayasuriya’s body at many places. Seeing the condition of the pitch, the match was first stopped, then it was cancelled.
