The southern coastal city of Chennai has been ravaged by the cyclone Vardah only a couple of days prior to the start of the fifth and final Test between India and England casting doubts over the possibility of the match even happening.
This is the second hurdle that the city has had to face after the unexpected passing of Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister J Jayalalitha only a week before the cyclone.
Tamil Nadu Cricket Association's secretary Kashi Viswanathan spoke about the condition of the stadium on Tuesday to PTI. "The assuring part is that the pitch and the outfield has not been affected by the cyclone. But sightscreen has been damaged. The bulbs have blown off, air conditioners damaged. There have been hundreds of tree trunks lying in the road leading upto the stadium. Our challenge is to set everything in order in the next two days. I am confident we will be able to set everything right" he said.
While he reported that the pitch and outfield have not been largely affected, work certainly had to be done to make sure it was in a proper condition for the Test.
Images and videos have emerged of the unique method the ground staff are using at the MA Chidambaram Stadium to prepare the pitch
The BCCI were the first to put everyone at ease with a string of pictures of a clear, blue sky in Chennai with the stadium looking in great condition. Chennai last hosted a Test match in 2013 against Australia and the fans from the city have been starved of cricketing action with the omission of the Chennai Super Kings from the Indian Premier League.
Former English skipper Nasser Hussain showed his absolute bemusement towards the ground staff who were using stacks of coal to heat the pitch, a most peculiar method.
Further, another tweet reveals how the ground staff are rolling the pitch by placing stumps under the pieces of coal and moving it around.
The ground staff certainly seemed in a chirpy mood as there were plenty of smiles around when they were engaging in the activity.
On the tour of the Caribbean, during a rain-affected Test that only saw 22 overs of action in total, ground staff at the Port of Spain were seen cutting up the outfield to soak it after all the rain.
One can only hope that there are no further issues and the match goes on as planned.
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