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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Dhyan Chand lifetime award to be replaced by Arjuna lifetime
New Delhi, Oct 24: The sports ministry on Thursday announced the discontinuation of the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement from this year onwards and the introduction of the Arjuna Award Lifetime in its place in a bid to "rationalise" the various sporting honours of the country.
Instituted in 2002, the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, is given to individuals in disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.
In 2023, the award was given to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey exponent Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.
"The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award," said a ministry statement.
"The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development.
"Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games," it added.
The last date for applying for the national sports awards for 2024 is November 14.
