KCA admits they forgot to play the national anthem during the 3rd T20I

Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has admitted that they forgot to play the national anthems of the countries before the third T20I on Tuesday. The brand new Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram hosted its first ever international match earlier this week. The match was marred by persistent rain and was reduced to 8-overs per side as India got better of New Zealand in a close contest. However, the ground staff had to be credited for the fact that the match happened as the rains were lashing in the city for the whole week.

The match began almost two and a half hours late than the scheduled start due to the drizzle which was not relenting for long time. The ground was deemed fit to play within an hour after the rain was stopped courtesy the excellent drainage system in place. The captains of both the teams praised the facilities at the ground after the match and also hailed the patience of the crowd. Virat Kohli even went on to opine that India would love to play more games on the ground.

We apologize to the nation

The secretary of KCA Jayesh George admitted their mistake and said that they forgot to play national anthems of the countries. He cleared that the match officials and organisers were in a so much hurry to start the decider that nobody pointed out of the event. “Yes, that was a mistake on our part. We were all there at the ground and in a hurry to start the match after rains. We forgot to play the national anthem.It’s a serious lapse on our part and I apologise (to the nation). It will never happen again,” he said according to Deccan Chronicle.

He also added that all the former cricketers were invited for the first game in Kerala by KCA including S Sreesanth for the match. “But Sreesanth didn’t turn up,” George added. Interestingly, the banned fast bowler had earlier cleared that he would not be able to visit the Stadium to watch the match live as he was banned by the Indian board.