Pitch invasion during the first ODI between India and Australia

The first ODI at Sydney Cricket Ground welcomed spectators after months of cricket without an audience due to the ongoing pandemic since March. However, there was a brief disruption when a group of investors invaded the pitch with placards mentioning, ‘No $1B Adani Loan’.

Pitch invasion in first ODI

During the first half of the match, two people entered the ground holding placards just before the start of the 7th over. They were wearing T-shirts mentioning “#StopAdani” at the front and “Stop Coal. #StopAdani. Take Action” at the back. Even before the security guards could fathom the whole situation, they made their way to the center circle.

However, the guards escorted them out of the field soon. But the players and umpires looked shocked for a while. Reportedly, a group named ‘Stop Adani’ on Friday issued a press release. The release spoke against the Adanis and urged the State Bank of India (SBI) not to approve a loan of $1 billion Australian dollars to them.

Stop Adani Movement

The Stop Adani movement became a household name both in Australia and abroad. They have been protesting against the mine’s planning and construction which is being in a backdrop of rising climate change concern. A couple of months ago Adani coal mine in Australia registered a victory against environmental activists. They claimed that the project had brought more than 1,500 jobs to the state of Queensland during its construction.

A Twitter handle by the name Galilee Blockade tweeted: “BREAKING!! These two #StopAdani CHAMPIONS have just run out onto the SCG, disrupting the first #AUSvsIND one-day international cricket match! They are calling on SBI to rule out lending $1billion of public funds to fuel Adani’s climate-wrecking coal mine. LOVE their style!”

The cricket journalist Melina Farrell went on to mention this as the oddest pitch invasion.”Well that was possibly the oddest pitch invasion I’ve ever seen.”