ICC World Cup: ‘Poor’ Dharamsala outfield back in focus as Indian players avoid diving on it

Dharamsala, October 22

The poor outfield at the HPCA stadium was back in focus as most of the Indian players shied away from sliding to avoid potential injuries in their World Cup match against New Zealand here on Sunday.

India skipper Rohit Sharma made a sliding effort and hurt his little finger early on in the New Zealand innings, forcing him to leave the field for treatment.

He, however, returned back later to lead the side.

And then in the 35th over, Jasprit Bumrah decided against diving at the fine-leg boundary while chasing the ball, giving away a boundary to New Zealand skipper Tom Latham.

The outfield here has come under constant criticism with England captain Jos Buttler terming it as “poor” ahead of their World Cup match against Bangladesh.

Buttler’s observation came after Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott too had expressed his displeasure over the outfield at the venue after their match against Bangladesh.

“Yeah, a few (concerns) I think,” Butter had said.

“It’s poor in my own opinion. I think any time you’re sort of talking about being careful diving or sort of being careful when you’re fielding, it sort of goes against everything you want to be as a team.

“You know you want to dive through our houses to save a run. So, that’s obviously not ideal, the way the surface is, the outfield. The outfield is different to when we played here in the IPL,” Buttler added.

The question was posed to Buttler after several players slipped on the outfield while chasing the ball during the match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh.