Visakhapatnam, Nov 17: This could be a first in the history of Test cricket. The tea break was taken in a bizarre way here today (November 17) as India and England players battled it out in the 2nd Test.
Series schedule; Photos; Day 1 report
Would you ever imagine a dog forcing umpires to call for an early tea break? Yes. It did happen on Thursday at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. The venue was making its Test debut and there was another first on the opening day!
It is a common sight to see dogs interrupting play at Indian grounds. But never before did an animal force early break in play. With 4 balls still to be bowled to complete an over, umpires called for tea.
With India cruising at 210/2 in 56.2 overs (Virat Kohli batting on 91), Cheteshwar Pujara (97 not out) began to face fast bowler Stuart Broad. But a dog decided to get a closer view of the match and entered the ground.
At first, Broad tried to shoo away the dog but he failed. Then two volunteers at the ground chased it away. But the dog soon returned. Again the duo began chasing. One of the men took his shoe off and tried to throw but he held it back.
After waiting for few minutes and the scheduled tea break (2.10 PM local time) already gone past, umpires Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and Australia's Rod Tucker sent the players off the ground for early tea, at 2.12 PM, after nearly a 4-minute wait.
It was one of those bizarre days when dog won!
OneIndia News