World Cup 2023: Fog halts India's run chase against New Zealand at Dharamsala's HPCA Stadium

The India-New Zealand ICC World Cup fixture in Dharamsala turned out to be quite eventful at the HPCA Stadium on Sunday. Mohammed Shami would take a fifer to arrest New Zealand’s flow of runs at the end. In reply, India would be in a precarious position before Virat Kohli (who else) would star in the case for a four-wicket win.

World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table

Also playing a highlight-worthy role in the contest was Daryl Mitchell who struck his fifth ODI century and forged a massive 159-run partnership for the third wicket with Rachin Ravindra.

The 21st match of ongoing World Cup also witnessed one of the rarer events in cricket — a game getting halted due to fog.

Interruptions due to rain are fairly common, and there are a set of rules (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method) to revise targets as well as determine the winner should a downpour cause a reduction in overs or wash a match out completely.

Interruptions due to erratic weather however, are largely limited to rain, with climactic phenomenons such as fog, snow, hailstorms, etc. making rare appearances in cricket, one of which did occur on Sunday.

The fog made its way into Dharamsala’s HPCA Stadium shortly after India’s chase of the 274-run target set by New Zealand got underway. Visibility started dropping after the conclusion of the first powerplay, in which the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill managed to add 63 runs without losing their wickets.

If you play in the hills, I guess you have to live as the weather dictates. First time I am seeing fog stops play.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 22, 2023

The umpires, however, had to send the players back to the dressing room during the 16th over of the innings, at which point both Rohit and Gill had departed in quick succession, with Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer walking off the field along with the Black Caps.

The delay, however, wasn’t too long with the sky starting to clear up soon after, and India’s chase restarted a little over 10 minutes later.

Later, reacting to the unique stoppage in play, Daryl Mitchell said the fog was “a wonderful thing”.

“It was strange, wasn’t it? I have experienced it before in first class cricket in Karori Park in Wellington when the fog came in,” said Mitchell.

“So yeah, this game continues to provide wonderful things, doesn’t it? It was an amazing experience, that’s for sure.”

The Dharamsala venue, which sits at an altitude of around 1,400m (4,700 feet). The ground has so far courted controversy for for its poor outfield.

Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott said his star spinner Mujeeb Ur Rehman could have suffered a serious injury when his knee jarred in the ground as he dived while fielding in the game against Bangladesh. England skipper Jos Buttler admitted the outfield was “poor”.

On Sunday, Shami said ground staff were doing all they could to produce a decent surface.

“There is no complaint because it was the same for both the teams,” said man of the match Shami.

“We cannot say anything to the groundsman because he is helpless, it’s his job, he tries very hard.

“In India and abroad, there are up and downs. Sometimes they play on wet grounds. Sometimes we play on dry grounds. No complaints.”