‘Don’t tell anyone that you have just reached’: How rain prevented India from nearly forfeiting a World Cup match

Anjum Chopra revealed that the team did not make it to the stadium on time because the driver who was in charge of the team bus, did not have an idea about the route from the hotel to the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

Former India captain Anjum Chopra recalled how the senior women’s team nearly had to forfeit the 1997 World Cup (also called the Hero Honda World Cup) opener against Sri Lanka. Chopra revealed that the team did not make it to the stadium on time because the driver who was in charge of the team bus, did not have an idea about the route from the hotel to the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium and in fact kept circling around the same location for over half an hour.

File image of Anjum Chopra. (Twitter)

“During the 1997 World Cup, we were staying at DLTA – Delhi Lawn Tennis Association. We were the poor cousins of million-dollar babies so we were accommodated wherever there was no rent or any other cheap option. We were to play a match against Sri Lanka, our first match [of the tournament] at Feroz Shah Kotla,” Chopra said on the YouTube show ‘22 Yarns’ with Gaurav Kapur.

“So, we got on the bus and left for the stadium [in the morning], and we knew the play won’t start on time because it was raining. After about 10-12 minutes – I was sitting at the back – someone from the front called for the Delhi residents. And when I got to the front, I was told that the driver doesn’t know the route to Feroz Shah Kotla! I knew the way, but only from my place.

“I thought I was the only most knowledgeable person because everybody else, apart from Anju Jain and I, were not from Delhi. So, I was helping the driver with the route, who was using his own ‘internal GPS’ as well. After about half an hour, we came back to Sarojini Nagar [just one-kilometre from DLTA]. We were circling around Sarojini Nagar and South Extension and after half an hour again we were back in the same place.”

Thankfully for the Indian team, it was raining that day in Delhi and the match got delayed. Chopra explained how the team was far from reaching the stadium from the scheduled toss time and had it not been for captain Pramila Bhatt and vice-captain managing a way to reach the stadium right in the nick of time, Sri Lanka would have been awarded the match.

“Now the toss was scheduled for 8.30am, so the captain should at least reach the stadium. And by 8.35, we were only moving in circles. Everyone else had reached the stadium and you can actually be declared as giving a walkover, [even if it’s raining] your team management and captain need to be there on the ground,” Chopra said.

“So apparently, the captain and the vice-captain got off halfway through and took a taxi. And as it turned out, even the taxi driver didn’t know the way to Feroz Shah Kotla. I don’t know how we managed to reach the stadium but when we did, my parents, who had come to watch the game even though it was raining, were standing outside with a big smile on their face. And then the first thing we were told was, ‘Please go straight to the dressing rooms and don’t tell anyone that you have just reached’. We reached there at 9.05am.”

The match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.