NEW DELHI: Mismanagement on the part of the organisers led to ugly scenes during the much talked about One-Day International between India and Pakistan at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium here on Sunday.

Soon after the sixth Indian wicket fell and defeat seemed inevitable, sections of the crowd began hurling missiles like water bottles and water cans into the ground. For the past several days, the Delhi police had been urging people through advertisements in the media not to bring anything with them to the stadium. As the list of prohibited items included water bottles as well, the match sponsors and organisers had made arrangements for drinking water inside and outside the ground.

As planned, Delhi Jal Board stationed 20 water tankers outside, while the sponsors got water dispensers installed near all the wings of the pavilion for the convenience of spectators. According to some spectators, attendants were also deployed near the dispensers for the purpose. But the match had barely reached half way, when the dispensers turned empty and the attendants went missing.

Around noon, hundreds of spectators, who had been sitting under the scorching sun for several hours, began complaining about non-availability of water. Some of them even lodged their protest with the authorised concerned, after which the sponsors quickly swung into action and came to their rescue. Water bottles were then arranged and supplied to the thirsty spectators that were subsequently used as missiles and hurled into the ground.

The ugly episode led to a 16-minute disruption of the match, causing an embarrassment to the organisers.

For their part, the police claimed that they did not allow spectators to carry water bottles inside the stadium.

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