Ranji Trophy 2022-23: Railways vs Punjab match to restart after Karnail Singh pitch deemed 'dangerous'

The Ranji Trophy 2022-23 match between Railways and Punjab at the Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi will restart after it was deemed 'dangerous' by the umpires on Wednesday. On-field umpires K Madanagopal and Rajeev Godara along with match referee Youraj Singh had to suspend the Ranji Trophy game after it proved to be unfit to play. 

A total of 24 wickets fell in less than just four sessions and an inspection was soon carried out to judge the quality of the surface, after which the match officials called both the captains (Mandeep Singh of Punjab and Karn Sharma of Railways) to inform them that the match will start afresh on Thursday, December 22, on a new surface, adjacent to the one they played. 

This however doesn’t signify that it is going to be a four-day match. It has now been reduced to a two-day fixture but teams will be allowed to change their playing XI as a fresh coin toss will also take place.

“They could have repaired the surface and resumed on the third day from where the match was stopped, but the match officials decided to play on a fresh surface. We were in a fantastic position but will possibly lose out on a chance to win because of this decision,” an official from the Railways team was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

'It was a green wicket but the match officials decided it was too uneven and inconsistent'

Batting first, Railways bundled the Punjab side on 162 runs. Openers Prabhsimran Singh (33) and Abhishek Sharma (36) started well but soon after their dismissal, the Railways bowlers decimated and conquered their opponent. However, Railways couldn’t take any advantage of the situation.

Courtesy of Yuvraj Singh (56), Railways managed to put 150 on board but were still 12 runs behind Punjab. In the second innings, the Mandeep Singh-led side lost four wickets for 18 runs and that’s when the officials interfered and suspended the match. 

Railways, who were smelling victory, were left disappointed after the decision. A player who was part of the game later revealed that the pitch had a green top but the match official decided it to be uneven.

“The pitch was uneven. Some balls hit the gloves, others scooted low at shoe-height from the same spot. It was a green wicket but the match officials decided it was too uneven and inconsistent for play to continue,” a player told ESPNcricinfo.