Wild Moments: How Bees And Snakes Halted India's Cricket Match


Snake attack in IND-SA T20I [Screengrab]
Snake attack in IND-SA T20I [Screengrab]

From snakes entering on the field, to monkeys disturbing the crew members, a game of cricket has been interrupted many times for bizarre reasons. Time and again, we have seen animals stopping the passage of play for a while, and it is also a risky affair, as the animals can hurt a player.

The second Test between India and Bangladesh saw the authorities hire Langurs and their handlers to take care of the monkey issues. Though the police administration is taking care of the stadium's security, Kanpur is known for its monkey menace which is beyond police control.

In this piece, we have listed down 3 instances, when animal interruption has halted the cricket match of the Indian team.

The dangerous snake attack in 2022

Play getting interrupted by dog interference is a common things, but if a snake is found on a cricket field, it becomes a life-threatening affair. This happened during India Vs South Africa T2OI game in Guwahati in 2022.

The event occurred in the 7th over of the Indian innings, when the play was stopped due to a snake being spotted on a cricket field. The players were shocked, and so were the entire crew. Initially, the commentators had no idea what had happened, but when the camera was panned, they realised a snake was spotted on the field. Immediately the groundstaff rushed in and it required four people to take the snake away.

The terror of Monkey

The first Test between Sri Lanka and India at Galle in 2015 saw an unwanted guest interrupting the match. The monkey ensured that the match was halted for a while as the players waited for the monkey to go away.

However, it didn't take long to move away as it strolled through quickly, and before any action could have been taken, the monkey had run away.

Bee attack stopped IND-AUS Test

The 4th Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in 2008 saw a bizarre event, when a swamp of bees stopped the play in Nagpur. Players and umpires could be seen lying on the ground to prevent themselves from getting harmed. Interestingly, it was also Anil Kumble's last-ever Test match for India.