Snake delays the Ranji Trophy match between Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha

Ranji Trophy 2019-20 kicked off on Monday with all teams geared up for one of the most important tournaments of the country. Each game for the day got off the mark on its scheduled time but the match between Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha was delayed due to a snake’s presence on the ground.

In cricket, everyone has witnessed a match getting delayed due to several reasons like fans interrupting the match, severe rain or bad pitch conditions. However, this time the match got delayed due to a strange reason that could also have been a threat to the players on the ground. It seemed like the most bizarre interventions of all time in cricket.

Vidarbha and Andhra Pradesh were accompanied by an unlikely visitor

On the opening day of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20, Vidarbha cricket team won the toss and opted to field. The moment when players got on to the field, they were accompanied by a snake on the ground. However, the ground staff soon came to the rescue to remove the snake from the ground.

BCCI also informed the cricket fans for the same, who took to their Twitter handle and shared a video with a witty caption that read, “SNAKE STOPS PLAY! There was a visitor on the field to delay the start of the match,”

In the video, it was quite evident that the ground staff was trying their best to send the snake out of the ground. Moreover, the match between Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha is also being telecasted on Star Sports 2. This was not the first time that the game got delayed due to a snake. Earlier in 2015 in a Ranji match between Bengal and Vidarbha at the JU campus in Salt Lake had also got delayed after a snake was spotted in the ground.

At the time of the filing of this story, Vidarbha had tightened their grip on the match on Day 1. Yash Thakur was bowling at his best and had grabbed two important wickets of Andhra Pradesh and they were left struggling at a score of 87 for the loss of three wickets. Hanuma Vihari (43) and Srikar Bharat (13) were batting against Vidarbha.

Here is the video:

SNAKE STOPS PLAY! There was a visitor on the field to delay the start of the match.

Follow it live – https://t.co/MrXmWO1GFo#APvVID @paytm #RanjiTrophy pic.twitter.com/1GptRSyUHq

— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) December 9, 2019