The Ranji Trophy match between Punjab and Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium has been halted due to the pitch used for the game. As per a report, the Punjab side refused to continue to bat due to a dangerous pitch. They were 4 down for 18 after 8 overs when the Mandeep Singh-led side decided it was enough.
The pitch was picked by a neutral curator from Ranchi. As per the report, the match will resume on a fresh pitch on Thursday (December 22) morning. The match between the two sides has been dominated by bowlers and the low scores do suggest that the pitch hasn’t been easy to bat on.
Punjab were bowled out for 162 in their first innings and only managed to play 48.1 overs. Railways batters also struggled and were bowled out for 150. Baltej Singh took a six-for while Siddharth Kaul dismissed 2 batters.
Punjab struggled in 8 overs they batted on day 2 and were 4 down for 18 when the match was halted. Mandeep Singh and Anmolpreet Singh will kick off the proceedings for Punjab on day 3. Railways might have to bat on the fresh pitch longer than Punjab.
It’s the second time that a match has been stopped in Delhi due to a bizarre reason. Back in 2009, an ODI between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned due to the same reason.
Talking of the points table, Punjab got the first-innings lead in their first game of the tournament against Chandigarh and sit at the 3rd spot. They are without the services of Shubman Gill.
Railways lost their opening game of the season against Vidarbha and are at the last spot in Group D. A win or draw will see them move up in the points table.
