Agra: In a repeat of their earlier protest, activists of the local unit of the Shiv Sena have damaged the cricket pitch at the Agra Sport Stadium, the venue for the December 24 veterans' match between India and Pakistan.

The Sena activists apparently scaled the wall of the stadium and entered the playing area late last night (Dec 17, 2003) and dug up the pitch, police said.

The incident brought back memories of Sena's similar digging up of the Kotla pitch in Delhi when the Pakistan team toured India for a Test series in 1999.

Quoting eyewitnesses, police said the activists entered the stadium with cans filled with Mobil oil in a bid to set the pitch on fire so that it could not be prepared again on time for the match.

But they sped away after digging the pitch as two constables reached the spot, they added.

Police raided a number of places to nab local office bearers of the Shiv Sena.

K K Kapoor, the local organiser of the cricket match, has condemned the act saying that it was "a conspiracy to defame the country and the city and to spoil the goodwill sought to be created between the two countries."

PTI