Eden Gardens, Kolkata

Eden Gardens (Kolkata) was originally supposed to play host to four of the matches scheduled in India for the ICC Cricket World Cup, but due to delays in renovations on conducting of inspections by the ICC it was concluded that at that time they were not ready to host the first of the four matches to be held there on the 27^th of February between India and England. This match has now been shifted to the ‘Chinnaswamy Stadium’ in Bangalore.

Even Skipper Dhoni admitted that he will miss not being able to play at the Eden Gardens. “I have known the people of Kolkata to be sports-lovers and they participate in every sporting event with amazing zeal, be it football or cricket, and any player enjoys playing before such a crowd.” said MS Dhoni.

The rejection of Eden Gardens probably hit the CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal) hard irrespective of how many times they argued that it would be ready on time for the 27^th February match. The fact that Eden Gardens would be inspected again for the remaining three matches must have awoken the CAB from a long slumber.

So thankfully for the CAB, the ICC gave a reluctant yet careful “yes” to Eden Garden’s for the three matches. The ICC was also reportedly rather impressed at the amount of work that was completed during this short period of time with respect to the pending construction work.

Now that the India vs England match is out from Eden Gardens the next three group stage matches are between South Africa and Ireland on the 15^th of March, Ireland and Netherlands on the 18^th of March and finally Kenya and Zimbabwe on the 20^th of March.

Frankly speaking, the Eden Garden’s lost the one match that would have been a guaranteed full house, so Kolkata’s loss turned out to be Bangalore’s gain.

Many fans are blaming the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) along with the CAB, some think that the Eden Garden has unfortunately been used as a pawn in cricket board politics.

Industrialist Sanjay Budhia commented saying that “Rest of the matches at Eden Gardens are just like consolation prize for the cricket loving people of Bengal who will at least get something to watch”.

This is probably what the CAB will be praying for at this moment, that the love of cricket will pull the residents of Kolkata out for the various matches even though none of them include the Indian team.

Tags: CAB, Cricket, Cricket World Cup, Eden Gardens, ICC, India, Kolkata, MS Dhoni, Sanjay Budhia, World Cup