Sambalpur, Jan. 5: The first day of the Ranji match between Vidarbha and Odisha had to be called off today, as the outfield remained damp, despite the relentless effort made by groundsmen of the Veer Surendra Sai Stadium in the city.

If the weather and the ground conditions favour, the four-day match will start from the second day tomorrow. An official of the meteorological department said the weather was going to be sunny and dry tomorrow, and this has brought cheers to players as well as the fans.

Secretary of the district athletic association Dulal Chandra Prdahan said: 'The decision to call off the first day of the match was taken after a discussion between the match referee and the captains of both the teams.'

Though the association workers had carried out several exercises to make the ground available, the efforts did not yield much result.

'Saturday's heavy rain had made some parts of the ground very wet. And due to the overcast conditions yesterday, the moist did not evaporate, which affected the match today. This is the first time that such an incident took place here. However, the outfield will dry up by tomorrow, and the match may commence,' said Pradhan.

The stadium has already hosted 14 Ranji trophy matches. The Odisha team has played in all of them. While the Odisha team has won on three occasions on this ground, they have lost four and drawn seven matches here.

The districtathleticcommittee has also made adequatearrangements for the match. However, the spectators, who had come to the ground to witness the first day of the Ranji match, went back disappointed as the match was called off.

'I was waiting for the Vidarbha-Odisha match. I had reached the stadium by 8am. I waited till 12noon expecting the match will begin. But unfortunately, the first day was called off,' said Kamalakshaya Pruseth, a cricket lover.

However, the fans hoped that the situation would change tomorrow. The association carries out several exercises to make the outfield ready for the game.