Drunk man drives onto pitch, interrupts Ranji match featuring Ishant, Gambhir

Courtesy: Twitter

New Delhi: In a bizarre incident of security breach, a man drove his car onto the pitch during third day's play of Delhi-Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy round four match at the Airforce ground, Palam on Friday.

According to reports, at around 4:40 pm local time, 20 minutes from close of play, a silver grey Wagon R suddenly drove onto the field of play with the visitors batting in their second innings.

The allegedly inebriated man was first detained by the Airforce Police before being handed over to the Delhi Police for interrogation.

International players like Gautam Gambhir, Ishant Sharma and Rishabh Pant were present on the ground when the incident took place.

The man, who identified himself as Girish Sharma, tried to swerve his car twice on the 22-yard strip before stopping, an eyewitness told PTI.

It's learnt that the main gate of the Airforce ground, which only allows entry of cars after proper checking remained open with the security not in his position.

This allowed the man free access inside the complex and instead of moving towards the designated parking lot, which is behind the main pavilion, he drove straight towards the field of play, leaving everybody in a state of shock, the report added.

At Stumps on Day 3, UP were 224/7 after 63 overs' play in their second innings with Akshdeep Nath unbeaten on 110. Suresh Raina's team has taken a 246-run lead. They made 291 runs in the first innings.

Delhi made 269 in their first innings, with Dhruv Shorey (98) and Gambhir (86) leading the scoring charts.

(With PTI inputs)