Strong winds caused several hoardings to fall from the roof of the Ekana Stadium on to the seats below during the World Cup match between Australia and Sri Lanka in Lucknow on Monday. After rain stopped play for a bit, there was a dust storm and heavy winds led to several iron angles with branding material from the roof falling on people sitting at the lower levels.

The situation could have turned worse, but luckily, the stands were relatively empty. It did, however, cause panic among those who were watching the game as the public announcement asked spectators to move to safety of the upper decks.

Asked about the incident after the match, Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa, one of the star performers of the game with figures of 4/47, said, “Never been a part of that, never seen something like that. But there was no one hurt hopefully. There was a metal pole coming down I’ve never seen anything like that.”

By the time the second innings began the security had moved all spectators to the upper levels.

Due to strong winds, hoardings are falling all over Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium.
Spectators running for safety.#CWC23 #AUSvSL #WorldCup2023 #Lucknow @BCCI @ICC pls remove these banners before the next match. pic.twitter.com/xxoqK775jK

— Ali Taabish Nomani (@atnomani) October 16, 2023

The stadium hosted its maiden World Cup game — Australia versus South Africa — last week.

#AUSvSL stadium going apart in lucknow by wind only pic.twitter.com/fr3YrDCdvc

— Darksideraza (@Darksiderazaa) October 16, 2023

The marquee India versus England match is scheduled to be played at the Ekana Stadium on October 29.

CWC 2023: Hoardings fall in crowd due to strong wind in Lucknow stadium during AUS vs SL clash

The match was halted due to rain and strong winds during the first innings. pic.twitter.com/icsiKGMtXI

— Mufaddal Vohra (@Mufadddal_Vohra) October 16, 2023

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa on Monday revealed that he has been suffering from back spasm for the last couple of days, but that could not come in his way of producing a match-winning effort against Sri Lanka in the World Cup here.
The 31-year-old Zampa was adjudged the Player of the Match after returning impressive figures of 8-1-47-4 as Australia posted their first win of the ongoing tournament.

“To be honest, I wasn’t feeling great because I had a bit of a back spasm. Was playing through it the last couple of days. Today I felt better, bowled better today,” Zampa said after the match.

“Personally, not at my best and last game particularly felt I could have been doing better. My job in this team is to take wickets in the middle order. Didn’t quite do that last game and put the pressure on the death bowlers.

“Today, I’ve been feeling better, but nice to come out on the winning side today. Took a while to get into the game, just got to keep that wicket taking attitude going, doesn’t matter if I leak some runs.” Australia had lost to India and South Africa in their first two matches and skipper Pat Cummins was a happy man as his side ticked all the boxes against Sri Lanka.

“Yeah, happy today. It was probably that nothing was said and it was just on the back of two losses…The energy in the field was nice to start with and everything else flowed.