The 86th edition of Ranji Trophy started on Monday with 38 teams fighting it out for the prestigious title, across venues. All the eyes are on Vidarbha – who have won the trophy twice consecutively in the last two years. The Faiz Fazal-led side opened their campaign in Vijaywada against Andhra, but the start was halted due to some reason. Interestingly, the delay in the start of the game wasn’t due to bad weather or any fans, but because of a snake. As the umpires were coming to the middle, a snake was spotted on the field. The incident occurred at the Dr. Gokaraju Liala Gangaaraju ACA Cricket Ground, Vijayawada.

In a video posted by the BCCI’s official handle on twitter, the snake was seen roaming around the field as ground staff tried to make it exit of the ground.

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

However, this was not the first time that a snake has stopped the play in a Ranji Trophy match featuring Vidarbha. In 2015, the game between Bengal and Vidarbha at the JU campus in Salt Lake, Kolkata was also halted for a long time after a snake was spotted on the ground.

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Surprisingly, two years ago, the play was halted during the Ranji Trophy because someone drove a car into the ground during a game between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh at the Palam Air Force Ground. The players like Ishant Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Rishabh Pant were featured in the game.

In the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, a swarm of bees stopped play between South Africa and Sri Lanka game. Players from both teams and the umpires had to lie down on the ground to avoid the bees. However, the game started after some time as well.