The fifth one-dayer between India and England wascalled off today without a ball being bowled due to a soggy outfield, an outcomewhich angered the fans and led to unruly scenes.
The umpires -- Rudi Koertzen and A V Jayprakash --carried out five inspections of the ground before calling off the match at 1:15citing "unplayable ground conditions" caused by unseasonal rains thathave been lashing the city over the past few days.
With the outfield remaining wet till noon, the umpiresconsulted rival captains Virender Sehwag and Andrew Flintoff before announcingtheir decision.
The teams would now travel to Jamshedpur for the sixthgame (April 12) of the seven-match series which India have already clinched 4-0.
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The decision of the umpires to call off the match wasmet with disapproval by the fans who had waited patiently since morning in thehope of catching some action at the Nehru Stadium.
Police had to lob tear gas shells to disperse the crowdafter a section of spectators turned unruly, burning posters and banners in thegallery.
Two policemen and one spectator were injured as bricksand bamboo were hurled at the cops.
The crowd trouble, that started in the eastern stand, spread quickly to a fewother galleries and intensifed when four cameras of Nimbus production unit weredamaged. While one, used for the Hawk Eye, was burnt, two others were damagedbeyond repair and the fourth was partially damaged.
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"It has been a security disaster, the policeshould have acted in time," a Nimbus official said.
ACA secretary Bikash Barooah said "We are notsatisfied with the umpires' decision, we will write to the ICC about it."The trouble forced the Indian and England teams to be whisked away to the teambus by armed escort.
The spectators started losing their cool shortly afternoon as the decision of the umpires was made known.
They threw water bottles and stones on to the groundand pulled down vinyl boards and other in-stadia advertisements.
Some people gathered some posters and banners and putthem afire. Some burning clothes were thrown in the area between the crowdfencing and the boundary line.
Earlier, the authorities exhausted all options, evengoing to the extent of deploying a helicopter to fan the outfield dry afterconventional mopping up operations and use of the super sopper provedineffective.
With a generally overcast sky and the sun onlyfiltering through intermittently, ACA officials pressed the chopper into servicefor about 45 mintues but even the extreme step failed to bear results.
"Unfortunately, the chopper has made no difference," Koertzen saidsoon after the chopper had left the ground at 10:30 am. "The outfield issloppy and slippery and there is a risk of players getting injured," aformer player said.
The Indian players, relaxed after having taken anunassailable 4-0 lead, seemed in high spirits, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni andIrfan Pathan even taking a ride on the copter.
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The crowd enjoyed the spectacle as Pathan and Dhonihopped into the copter and enjoyed their unscheduled air-borne expedition forabout 20 minutes.
Relaxed after India's scintillating show in the series,the duo waved at waiting lensmen and gave poses from inside the helicopter, evenas the fans broke into a spontaneous applause.
The helicopter, requisitioned from the Union HomeMinistry, flew very low over the ground trying to fan the outfield dry with itsfast-propelling wings but in vain.
PTI
