Missing hat has DDCA officials in a tizzy

NEW DELHI: A missing hat had Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) officials in a tizzy on the last day of the three-day warm-up match between

New Zealand

and Mumbai Ranji team at the

Ferozeshah Kotla

here.

There were 15 people in and around the match officials' room and CCTV cameras were placed in every corner of the players' area, still the umpire's hat went missing. The incident led to some drama on the last day of the match with fourth umpire Amit Bansal lodging a complaint with the match referee Amit Sharma, who in turn, made a submission to the DDCA officials.

Sources said DDCA officials spent a few hours on Monday to scan the CCTV footage but couldn't track the thief. It was later declared that the umpire must have left the hat in the pick-up taxi. "It is nothing but a hoax. No one can enter the match officials' area," a top DDCA official said.

It was earlier not known who the hat belonged to - the on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary or Amit Bansal. A source told TOI that it belonged to Chaudhary, who had apparently kept it in the umpires' locker room after Day Two of the match.

This is not the first time that stuff has been stolen from inside DDCA's high security zone. Earlier this year, it was alleged that four TV sets were stolen after the IPL play-off games. However, DDCA denied the claim and said only one TV was missing.

"With DDCA scheduled to stage the ODI match between India and New Zealand next month, the authorities will have to be extra careful now," said an official.