The Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali has excellent facilities for players, fans and journalists, but still everything is not perfect there.
Spectators on the stand housing VIPs, which is below the press box and above the players pavilion, proved a big nuisance for players of both teams as they constantly kept moving in between overs during the fourth One-day International between India and Australia on Monday.
Not only did the fans wander around, but one or two policemen were also guilty of getting in the line of sight of the batsmen when an over was in progress.
During the 21st over of the Indian run chase an agitated Yuvraj Singh made his displeasure clear after which the game was stopped for a few minutes to get things in order.
Not surprisingly, both captains voiced their displeasure after the match.
"It is frustrating when somebody is getting disturbed because somebody is moving now and then behind the sightscreen. It is not expected at a level like this. Basically, it was Yuvraj who was getting really frustrated because batsmen at this level need to be concentrated and focused at all times. You don't want to be distracted by someone walking around the sightscreen," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.
His Australian counterpart, Ricky Ponting, too seemed bemused by the events and pointed out the stand should have been cleared.
"It is frustrating. There were about 40 policemen in that area but more often than not they were the ones who were moving and they were the ones supposed to be keeping all the people from doing it. It got to one stage where I believe they should have actually cleared that whole area. It was like every ball there was something happening," Ponting said.
