Sun stops play after dinner. Sounds bizarre? But this is what happened in the first ODI between India and New Zealand at the McLean Park Wednesday.
Play was interrupted when the sun made it difficult for the batsmen to spot the ball, leading to an interruption that has never been seen in international cricket before.
The decision to halt play was taken keeping the players' safety in mind and sunstroke considerations, 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.
Apparently, the sun outrage hasn't stopped a cricket match for the first time. In 1995, the Old Trafford Test between West Indies and England halted due to excessive sunlight. While there have been quite a few instances when outrage of sun has stopped play, Twitter did not keep calm as they witnessed a phenomenon like this on Wednesday.
Here are some of the best reactions:
Stoppages due to the sun have been witnessed in the past here during the domestic competitions, and reportedly, also in few English grounds, but none of them were international matches.
"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'.
Chasing 158, India were cruising at 44 for one in 10 over when play was stopped.
Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan were batting on 2 and 29 respectively.
(With agency inputs)
