New Zealand’s One-Off Test match against Afghanistan was called off without a ball being bowled on Friday in Greater Noida, denying both teams much-needed game time ahead of their upcoming assignments. The historic Test match between both sides was ruined on the first day itself, with rain playing a major part in its destruction. 

Despite the rain relenting for the first two days, the major issue of wet outfield gave a fresh headache to the match officials, who finally on day fifth decided to abandon the match. New Zealand will now travel to Sri Lanka for two Test matches. Ahead of their series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand were looking forward to getting used to the subcontinent conditions but rain prevented both teams from participating in the game. New Zealand head coach Gary Stead was left disappointed after not getting to play ahead of Sri Lanka games. 

"It's frustrating for us. It was our first Test match against Afghanistan and we were really excited about that as well. They've been great competitors of ours over the last few World Cups as well. We've had some great games of cricket. For us, we have the World Test Championship just around the corner in Sri Lanka as well. So, the preparation towards that would have been really useful for us as well. And the most disappointing part for us is that we've lost that ability to be match-hardened and match-ready when we go into our Test match next week,” Stead said during the press conference. 

"It was an opportunity to play Afghanistan. It doesn't come around that often. They have some unique bowlers in that as well. It's always good to get your head around how you face them and the way they play is a little bit different to other countries."

“Yeah, look, I mean it's worth noting, I think, it's been 1200 millimetres of rain in the last week and even though it was fine for those two days, there were thunderstorms the nights before and the ground was just too soft and the umpires deemed that unfit to play on. So that's, sort of, out of the players' hands in a way as well," Stead said. 

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott also also expressed disappointment. 

"The real sad thing is, I think, it was going to be a really good pitch and it would have been a good contest, which is a disappointing thing. So, that's the most disheartening thing, I suppose, for all of us."

"There were a few things discussed but we looked at the ground today and it was never really going to be attainable, unfortunately. There's obviously a huge desire to play cricket but the safety of the players - because New Zealand have got huge tours coming up - unfortunately, you've got to take that into account.”