New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) A day after the One-day international between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned due to a pitch dangerous to bat on, Ferozeshah Kotla looked a haunted place Monday.
The security guards manning the gates were strictly instructed to keep the media out of bounds and the gate for the administrative building was locked from inside.

“The office is closed today, no officials are inside,” was the parroted reply of the guard.

He would direct all those inquiring about ticket refunds to the notice outside the gate that read: The refund of tickets bought from the Union Bank of India, ticket counters at the Ambedkar Stadium and online can be had from the 10 branches of the bank from Dec 29 to Jan 5.

“Our Sunday was in any case spoiled as we could not watch the match. I hope at least they refund the ticket money without any hassles,” said a fan.

Crews of a couple of television channels waited for a byte or clip as to what was happening on the morning after Sunday’s fiasco, but there was no luck. The historic Kotla venue, which hosted its first Test in 1948-49 against West Indies, now has a blot that cannot be erased easily.

An old-timer talked of Kotla’s glory and the excellent cricket people of his generation watched.

“For years, it has been a sheer pleasure watching cricket at Kotla, basking under the wintry sun. Never has one felt the necessity of a covered stadium. The tradition and history is slowly getting destroyed by those who do not know the fame of Kotla.

“There have been some memorable performances here, like Geoffrey Boycott surpassing Gary Sobers’ world record Test aggregate, Sunil Gavaskar scoring his 29th century to equal Don Bradman’s record for the highest number of Test centuries, Sachin Tendulkar going past Gavaskar’s record of most centuries with his 35th Test ton and Anil Kumble taking 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan. How could we reconcile to Sunday’s happenings? It is not easy to forget the terrible thing,” he added.

The farce in front of 45,000 people in a renovated stadium will forever remain a thorn alongside these records of roses.

The stadium went through a complete facelift a couple of years back with Rs.1 billion spent to make it a model stadium but it was destroyed by an unprofessional officialdom.

With four matches of the 2011 cricket World Cup scheduled to be hosted here, the DDCA will have plenty of catching up to do before it is cleared to be a venue.