The government of Odisha asked the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) on Monday to explain why the floodlights failed during the second ODI match between India and England on Sunday at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. This failure caused a 35-minute pause in the game while India was trying to chase a score of 305 runs.
The incident happened at the start of the seventh over, with India’s openers, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, doing well and scoring 48 runs off 37 balls. Suddenly, one of the floodlights went out, leaving both teams upset. The umpires had to ask the players to leave the field.
In a letter to OCA, Siddhartha Das, the Director of Sports in Odisha, stated, “This incident led to about 30 minutes of match delay, which upset players and fans. We want OCA to explain why this happened, identify who is responsible, and tell us how they plan to stop this from happening again.” OCA has 10 days to respond.
What caused the floodlight issue? According to an Indian Express report, the problem occurred when the generator for that floodlight stopped working. This raised concerns about whether Cuttack could host international matches, especially since it was the first ODI held there in six years. OCA secretary Sanjay Behara explained, “When one generator failed, we tried to use the second one. But it took time to move the second generator because the players’ vehicles were blocking the way.”
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