At 11 tonight, five Yuva Shiv Sena goons calmly scaled the walls of Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla grounds, dug up the pitch with iron rods, then called newspaper offices and TV channels, posed for the cameras, distributed leaflets and celebrated their triumph. ``We are doing this on the orders of Balasaheb Thackeray and Madhukar Sarpotdar, MP, to prevent the match with Pakistan,'' one of them said.

By 11.30 pm, with a lone policeman and a few reporters watching, the task was complete, even a Shiv Sena flag had been planted. ``We have achieved our goal of ruining the pitch,'' said Yuva Shiv Sena vice-president Mangatram Munde.

Later, when a jeep full of policemen reached there from the nearby Indraprastha Estate station, there was still no attempt to stop the four men who continued to dig up the pitchcheered by fellow activist Rajinder Singh Saini.

It was elementary, said Saini. ``We watched the place during the day after we got the orders in the morning,'' he said. The stadium had just two guards when the incident happened who were also unaware of the action. ``We came to know when some reporters came knocking,'' one of the guard said.

Asked why the police weren't intervening, Sub-Inspector Tarkeshwar Singh shrugged, ``They have already dug the place and they will all be arrested.'' Asked whether they had anticipated such an act, he said: ``How were we to know? They did not call up and tell us.''

Additional DCP (Central District) Muktesh Chander said from his residence that he was in no position to comment as he was in the process of ``learning about it''. He said there had not been any intelligence reports and hence ``it was not anticipated''.

Meanwhile, the Sainiks couldn't have been more brazen. ``No one will remove the flag,'' said Saini as he called out to news photographers. ``Let them takea picture.'' He didn't have much reason to be worried. The policemen were in no hurry to step in - four Sainiks were arrested much later - even as jeeps packed with Shiv Sena activists were seen driving to the stadium.

This despite an evening meeting between Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) sports secretary Sunil Dev and Special Secretary (Home) Nikhil Kumar. Dev told The Indian Express that he had apprised Kumar of Thackeray's threat issued barely two days ago.

``We discussed the matter with him. We did not seek any protection for the ground at that time because we never thought they (Shiv Sena) would take such an extreme step. It's the most unfortunate event in my cricket career.''

Dev who visited the stadium around midnight and inspected the pitch said that there had been ``considerable'' damage. ``We can have the actual assessment only in the morning.''

He said the officials had planned to spray urea in and around the wicket-area so that the ground would look greener. ``We hadstopped all league games at the main Kotla ground and were busy preparing...this incident has spoilt everything.'' However, he said he was confident that the match would be played as per schedule. ``We need about 10-15 days to fix the damage.''