Chennai Test a non-starter?

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from India

CHENNAI, Thursday -

The first cricket Test between Sri Lanka and India at the Chiddambaram Stadium here in Chepauk could become a non-starter for two reasons.

The Test is scheduled to commence tomorrow but the start may be put back if the predictions from the meteorological department prove right. A cyclonic storm is expected to hit the coast of Chennai by Thursday night and the organizers the Tamil Nadu CA (TNCA) are keeping their fingers crossed that it will move away and allow the cricket to go on without any hindrance.

However following bright sunshine and a clear day on Wednesday, today was rather overcast and windy, signs that the cyclone maybe moving in this direction. But the locals here say the worst is over and that it has passed Tamil Nadu. Let's hope it is so.

Already the TNCA are faced with a civil suit filed by an angry cricket fan restraining them from selling tickets for the Sri Lanka-India Test match and from holding matches in Chennai during the monsoon season.

The irate spectator has cited the monsoon pattern recorded by the Meteorological Department for the past 15 years which shows that Tamil Nadu received at least 40 percent of its annual rainfall during the North east monsoon between October and December. Under the circumstances he said it was not prudent for the TNCA to organize cricket matches during the period.

Further the petitioner contended that the TNCA cancelled two one-day internationals and the final day's play of a Test match in the past two years here due to rains and that the spectators who paid for tickets ranging from Rs. 200 to Rs. 8000 (Indian) were not refunded their moneys. This includes the third one-dayer between India and South Africa on November 22.

Now, inspite of the cyclonic rains having been forecast the TNCA was planning to host a Test match between Sri Lanka and India. The hearing was scheduled for today (December 1).