Thread by @ovshake42

On this day, 1969, the Hyderabad ground staff showed such inefficiency that it remains a blot in the history of Indian cricket.

Things took a turn so ridiculous that The Indian Express ran the headline MORAL VICTORY FOR NEW ZEALAND the morning after.
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India were playing New Zealand. This was the decider, with the series levelled 1-1.

New Zealand were 181/9 at stumps on Day 1. Then it rained overnight and ruled out play on Day 2. The next day was a rest day.

At the same time, the grass kept growing (literally).
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Ideally, under such circumstances, it should have been mown off, but the ground staff did not do this.

The pitch resembled a green carpet when the covers were removed.

Worse, there were two prominent patches, at the centre and near the popping crease at the pavilion end.
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For some reason, umpires MV Nagendra and Sudhendu Bhattacharya, ordered the grass to be cut.

New Zealand captain Graham Dowling obviously objected to this.

Play resumed, and New Zealand were bowled out without adding a run.
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And now India batted on a green pitch against Bob Cunis, Bruce Taylor, and Dayle Hadlee.

They were soon 49/9. Then Venkat and Bedi took the score to 89.

On their way back, Venkat and Bedi were intercepted by a young boy, who had rushed out to congratulate them.
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But a policeman chased him with a stick, hitting him, causing him to fall. Later he had to be admitted to Sarojini Eye Hospital.

The crowd retaliated with stones, slippers, firecrackers. They set fire to the section of the stadium near the scoreboard. Even the DCP was injured.
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It reached outside the stadium.

The State Public Works Department was attacked. A shopping arcade near the stadium was mobbed. Windows of buses were smashed.

Well after the violence subsided, the CP issued a statement.
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He promising stern action against the officer whose blows had triggered it all.

And yet, miraculously, the Test match had continued.

Dowling gritted it out for four hours for 60.

An unfit Glenn Turner batted at No. 10 but helped Taylor add 31.
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New Zealand finished Day 4 on 175/8.

Dowling declared overnight, and India had to score an improbable 268 or bat out the day.

India kept losing wickets. Abid Ali went for an expansive cover-drive and edged.

Indrajitsinhji tried to hook and was caught at short-leg.
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Jaisimha was caught brilliantly at short-leg off Hadlee. He registered a pair.

Hadlee had Wadekar caught behind (he was dropped before that).

Cunis trapped an uncharacteristically cautious Pataudi leg-before when he tried to flick and missed.
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Ambar Roy batted for 53 minutes before edging one off Hadlee.

Ashok Gandotra batted for over an hour before being clean bowled by Cunis.

Solkar and Venkat carried on, hoping for the rain. It came when India were 76/7.

It lasted for 25 minutes.
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The sun was out when the umpires walked out to inspect the tarpaulin-covered pitch.

Water had accumulated on the tarpaulin, and the ground staff showed no intention of removing it.

All they did was trying to mop the water with rags.
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"Although there were official denials later, it looked very much like a deliberate go-slow policy," reported Wisden.

The crowd booed the ground staff.

In fact, it looked so blatant that they chanted "New Zealand zindabad" and "down with the Indian team".
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Things reached a probably unprecedented level when some in the East Stand indulged in demonstrations in protest of the attitude of the groundsmen.

When Pataudi and Dowling walked out, the crowd broke into a chant of "shame, shame, Pataudi".
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Remember, Pataudi used to play for Hyderabad at this stage.

Riot police got ready with tear gas, but thankfully that was not needed.

With time running out, Dowling took his shoes and socks off and did his best to remove water from the tarpaulin.

All his teammates joined in.
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When the tarpaulin finally came off, it was spotted that water had seeped through to the two patches .

The match was called off at 4.45 PM.

Later that day, BCCI Secretary S Sriraman attended a press conference.
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The umpires had apparently submitted a report on the proceedings. They had blamed *Dowling* for interfering with them.

Dowling told in the media that two-thirds from the original number of 25 of the ground-staff was actually employed that day.
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He had even pleaded to the BCCI representative and local star Ghulam Ahmed to hasten things up, but it had fallen on deaf ears.

It would have been New Zealand's first series win. They got there in a month's time by beating Pakistan in Pakistan, but that is another story.