Pitch fears haunt Kotla.

If the wicket during the recent Champions League is anything to go by, delhi may witness another farce tomorrow

Pitch fears haunt Kotla.

If the wicket during the recent Champions League is anything to go by, delhi may witness another farce tomorrow

Had the ground staff of the Kotla Stadium carried out the instructions precisely, they would have not suffered the embarrassment they are going through off late.

Tomorrow's third India-Australia clash will be not even close to the high-scoring second ODI, which India won by 99 runs at Nagpur. A score of around 240, that too by the team batting first will, will be quite a challenge for the team batting second.

The reason: The Champions League T20 semi-final between New South Wales and Victoria jeopardised the preparations for the India-Australia face-off.

"We were not prepared to host that (CL-T20) match at all. In fact, we had written to the cricket board expressing our inability to host that match as well," curator Vijay Bahadur Mishra said yesterday.

And, in a latest development last evening, the India-Sri Lanka match which was to be hosted on December 27 has been turned in to a day affair instead of the scheduled day-night one. The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association informed the BCCI that hosting a day-night match would be impossible given the weather conditions in December. Vice-president of the DDCA Chetan Chauhan confirmed the development and said: "Yes, it will be a day affair now."

While BCCI Chief Administrative Officer, Prof Ratnakar Shetty confirmed DDCA's request for the India-Sri Lanka match to be turned into a day affair, he said he did not have any knowledge of the earlier correspondence between the Board and DDCA regarding its inability to host the CLT20 match.

"They have written to the Board requesting the India-Sri Lanka match to be turned into a day match. The request is being considered but I am not aware of any other correspondence from the DDCA," he told MiD DAY yesterday.

The slow wicket is expected to be a frustrating one for both teams for whom the ball will keep low. Playing horizontal bat shots and across the line will not only be difficult, but suicidal.