Ind Vs NZ 1st ODI: Sun stops play for half an hour at McLean Park!
Napier, Jan 23: Sun stops play after dinner. Sounds bizarre? But this is what happened in the first India-New Zealand ODI at the McLean Park Wednesday.
Rain interruption in international cricket bringing the Duckworth-Lewis method into consideration is nothing new. But here it was the sun that troubled the batsmen by coming right in the line of their view, forcing play to stop for about half an hour.
Indian captain Virat Kohli, whose side's eight-wicket demolition of New Zealand was somewhat overshadowed by the bizarre turn of events, said he has never experienced a sun-induced stoppage in his life.
"Never in my life," he said when asked about the halt due to which the target was revised by two runs and the match shortened by an over.
"It was funny. In 2014, I got out once with the sun in my eyes and this rule wasn't there then," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The decision to halt proceedings was taken after the dinner break of the day-nighter, keeping the players' safety in mind, on-field umpire Shaun George said.
"The setting sun is in the eyes of the players and we need to think of their safety as well as umpires. There was an awareness of it by the players (they didn't appeal)," said the umpire.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson also took a lighthearted view on the situation.
"It is hard to move the sun and hard to move the Grandstand. So, we didn't have much option and had to sit down a bit," he quipped.
Stoppages due to sun have been witnessed in the past here during the domestic competitions, and reportedly, also at few English grounds, but none of them were international matches.
In 1980, and India-England Test match in Mumbai, called Bombay at the time, was brought forward by a day due to a solar eclipse.
"We had talked about it in the pre-series chat. It's something different," said New Zealand star batsman Ross Taylor.
Normally, the cricket pitches are positioned in the North-South direction to avoid this scenario, but at McLean Park, the pitch is East-West facing.
"We are trying to find out ways to deal with this problem," said Napier's Mayor Bill Dalton while talking to official broadcaster 'Star Sports'.
"We were very conscious that this would happen and had made a plan for it. We are absolutely committed to make this the biggest multi-use sports ground in New Zealand."
Chasing 158, India were cruising at 44 for one in 10 overs when play was stopped. Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan were batting on 2 and 29 respectively.
The interruption, however, only managed to delay the inevitable.
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Thieves break into forest officer’s house in Ullal, decamp with bike, jewellery and ₹10.5 lakh cash
Mangaluru: Thieves broke into the rented house of a forest officer in the Kotekar sub-division of Ullal and stole a motorbike, ₹10.5 lakh in cash and gold and silver jewellery weighing about 181 grams, police said. The incident came to light on Thursday morning after Mehboob returned home from his native after nearly one week
The victim, Mehboob Saab Gudihola, had been living in the house with his wife and child for the past six months. According to the complaint, the family had travelled to their native place in Koppal on Friday.
The theft came to light when Gudihola returned home on Thursday morning and found that the house had been broken into.
In his complaint to police, Gudihola said the accused had entered the house through the main door and broke open cupboards in two rooms. The thieves allegedly stole gold and silver jewellery weighing around 181 grams, including ornaments belonging to the child.
They also took away ₹10.5 lakh in cash, which Gudihola told police he had brought home after availing a bank loan. In addition, a motorbike parked on the premises was also stolen.
Following the complaint, Ullal Police registered a case and launched an investigation. A dog squad and forensic experts visited the house and conducted an inspection.
