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Poor Dharamsala Outfield Raises 'Big Question Mark' over Players' Safety in WC 2023

image-lng5v4b8Mujeeb in an attempt to stop the ball [Twitter]

The Dharamsala cricket stadium has once again come under scrutiny, and this time for its poor outfield during the World Cup 2023 match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

With Dharamsala hosting its first match of the World Cup 2023, the outfield has looked patchy on match day, and there is uneven covering of grass, which has raised question marks over the safety of the players.

The poor outfield almost led to an injury, when Afghanistan's Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman made an attempt to stop the ball at deep backward square leg. He stretched with a dive to stop the ball, but his knee hit the ground and some of the mud popped up, as the fielder got away with an injury.

One of the support staff from the Afghanistan cap had an interaction with Cricbuzz, wherein he stated that the current condition is dangerous for the players and the stadium isn't ready for international cricket.


Here's what the team member had to say

"Yeah, it is sad to see. It is a beautiful place to play cricket...it [outfield] is not ready for international cricket. Not okay. Right now it is not good for international cricket. Maybe it is because of rain... but yeah it is not ready now."

Even the Afghanistan head coach, Jonathan Trott has come out and lashed at the stadium outfield. He reckoned that Mujeeb was lucky to have come out un-injured, in an attempt to stop the ball.

"We see the product of cricket all around the world where players are taught and encouraged to improve their fielding. Then when you've got players worried about getting injured... we're lucky Mujeeb hasn't got a serious knee injury towards the end."

This isn't the first time that the stadium has come under scrutiny. The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia in early 2023 was scheduled to take place in Dharamsala.

However, the match was shifted to Indore, citing lack of grass density in the outfield. Recently there were reports raised by ICC, that the stadium has been infected by fungus, which was eventually removed prior to the World Cup commencement.