Opinion: Who’ll stop the rain? – Test Cricket ’s biggest villain

Faf du Plessis’ shades and hat were on. He was dressed in all whites and the South African emblem brightly shone across his heart. He was the pride of South Africa at the moment. Not because he was a patriot. Not because he had a point to prove, and surely not because of a bet. Kingsmead in Durban was one of South Africa’s better hunting grounds in terms of Test match cricket. This was du Plessis’ chance to shine.

He was the skipper of the Test Cricket side. Although momentarily, records will go on to show that Faf was indeed a part of the side as a Test match skipper. However, there was one slight problem. There was no rain, but there was a wet outfield. Of course, it is not a bad way to start of your captaincy career, but it wasn’t the best either. The glasses and the hat told a distinct story. If the glasses were off, he would become Cyclops. For those who are not familiar with X-Men and its founding members, Cyclops is the guy who emits laser from his eyes.

Of course, Faf may well have been diplomatic about his disappointment of missing out on the match, but deep down, there would have been a fire. And it would have been burning. Now, when one searches the former South African Captains, the Protean legends will pop up on the screen. Shaun Pollock, AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith, and Hansie Cronje. These are some of the names myself and many others my age grew up watching.

On this list, however, there is a slight blemish as far as some are concerned. No Faf du Plessis. The likes of Gary Kirsten, Hashim Amla, and Ashwell Prince have their names up in the immortality of the ‘List of South African Test captains’. Yet, there is no mention of Faf du Plessis. His ‘forget and move on’ tactic eventually saw him send out a Tweet.

Elsewhere, Virat Kohli was undergoing a similar thing. In contrast of du Plessis, Virat is more of the aggressive type. There was sunshine resonating in the air of Port of Spain. There was not even a cloud in the sky. The only thing that was missing from the perfect setting was 6 stumps, the red cherry, two batsmen, a bowler, and fielders. It wasn’t the weekend. It did not have to be either. However, the setting painted a disappointing picture.

The disappointing picture was not Ravi Ashwin tossing the ball in his shorts and flip flop. It was not the sight of Ravindra Jadeja twisting and turning his moustache. It was the sight of three individuals of yesteryear who had made their way out to watch the match. While Sir Viv Richards has been a part of the commentary team, Farokh Engineer and Karsan Gharvi had flown all the way from St. Johns Wood in London, only to get heavily and supremely disappointed. It would take a presentation of a cricket bat from Virat Kohli to pacify the former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman.

While Arnab Goswami’s show made a futile attempt to pull up those involved in the OP Jaisha debacle, the rest of us in the cricketing fraternity made an attempt to dissect and do an autopsy on what exactly happened. How was this allowed to happen? How badly did this affect what happened overall? Most importantly, as far as many are concerned, what are the repercussions?

Sambit Bal, the editor-in-chief for the Cricinfo Magazine wrote on his official Facebook page:

“Can there be a more depressing sight in cricket than play being abandoned under clear blue skies as two current Tests have been? Does cricket not have enough money to at least cover the whole ground? Can it not be made mandatory for international venues?”

While we can see the disappointment in the words of Sambit Bal, it is clear that there is an important question in the offing. What I picked up from the proceedings at the Queens’ Park Oval was something of a shambolic event. What else could it be? The ground staff had seemingly covered up only the wicket, leaving the outfield exposed to rain. This meant that the ground would have to be dug up in order to let the water evaporate.

In the case of the South Africa v New Zealand encounter, a case can indeed be made. It is the middle of the South African winter and this time, witnesses some of the worst cases of floods. However, in the case of the Caribbean, the events that occurred are absolutely unforgivable. In this case, I find solace in the words of Sambit Bal. Does WICB not have enough money to cover the ground completely?

Whenever it rains in Bangalore, match or no match, there is a complete ground cover. Each time there is rain in Edgbaston, the pitch is covered with a special cover while the blue sheets are used to cover up the other parts of the ground. As du Plessis would go on to say in another tweet that the conditions on the pitch would go on to injure the players if they slipped.

‘Who’ll stop the rain?’ – That is the question we all have at the moment, don’t we? Rain is perhaps the worst villain when it comes to robbing us of cricket. Grace Kelly might have made a million dollars from just ‘signing in the rain’, but the fact remains that it has become somewhat of a liability of late in light of the poor and unprofessional arrangements made by the WICB as well as the authorities in Kingsmead in Durban. For those who criticise me on the effect of the rain on sport, I only have one thing to say: “On this side of the glass it’s a treat. On the other side, it’s a sham.” And mind you, this is coming from someone who has grown up in the city of Bangalore, the place that is prone to rainfall for a string of months together.

At the end of it all, the sorry sight of rains calling off matches prematurely is something the ICC must look into. The fact may be that India was robbed of the world number one ranking. I concur. However, I would also go on to add that fans all over the world sacrificing different things to watch a good game of Test cricket were also robbed. However, whether the right authorities realize this, or, by some godforsaken miracle come across this post remains to be seen.