IND vs WI 2022: When luggage delay forced a shortened India vs West Indies ODI in 1994

A luggage issue delayed the second T20I between India and West Indies at Warner Park in St Kitts on Monday (August 1). The match was scheduled to begin at 8 pm IST.

However, an official statement from Cricket West Indies (CWI) stated that due to 'significant delays in crucial team luggage arriving into St Kitts from Trinidad', the match would start at 10 pm IST. This was later changed to 11 pm IST.

While the incident sounds bizarre, it is not a one-off when it comes to cricket matches. A similar incident between the same two teams occurred on November 7, 1994. That time, though, the match was being played in India.

During the West Indies’ tour of India in 1994-95, the visitors were scheduled to play the third one-dayer of a five-match series in Visakhapatnam. The match could not start on time after the visitors realized that most of their kit had been flown on to Chennai (then Madras) by mistake.

While the luggage was retrieved, there was no time for a 50 overs per side contest and the match had to be reduced to 44 overs. That’s not all. The West Indies were docked one over for their slow run rate and got to play only 43 overs.

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Navjot Sidhu shone with a century in the delayed India vs West Indies ODI

When the game was finally ready to get underway, the visitors won the toss and elected to field first. Sachin Tendulkar (54) and Ajay Jadeja (38) added 64 for the opening wicket for India. However, it was Navjot Singh Sidhu who put the hosts in command with a fine century.

Batting at No. 3, he scored an unbeaten 114 off 103 balls, smashing nine fours and two sixes. Sidhu’s knock lifted India to 260 for 4 in 44 overs.

Needing 261 in 43 overs for victory, Phil Simmons (51) and Stuart Williams (49) added 86 for the first wicket. Carl Hooper then came in and clobbered an unbeaten 74 off just 47 balls.

However, with six needed off the last ball from Manoj Prabhakar to tie the game, he could only score two. India thus registered a close victory by four runs.