Sourav Ganguly defends Eden Gardens over rain fiasco

Sourav Ganguly strongly defended Eden Gardens’ suitability to host the World Twenty20 final in 2016

Sourav Ganguly, the president-in-waiting of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), defended the Eden Gardens amidst the furore generated by the washout of the third and final T20 between India and South Africa on Thursday, ESPNCricinfo reports.

The match at Eden Gardens was washed out without a ball being bowled with much of the blame being laid on the ground officials who failed to cover the outfield in time as the rain came pouring down around 1 PM. Despite the match only starting more than five hours later, the outfield could not be readied on time as umpires took the call to abandon the match after several inspections.

The former Indian skipper, who is set to take over the reigns at CAB, necessitated by the sudden demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya on September 20, acknowledged that the ground officials could have done better in terms of covering the outfield on time but added that the drainage facilities at the ground was on par with the best grounds in the world.

"There is no issue at all," Ganguly told ESPNcricinfo. "We should have done a better job yesterday in terms of the covering the outfield, which we'll take care of. But in terms of the drainage and as far as the ground facilities are concerned, there is no problem at all."

In the aftermath of the washout, some had questioned whether Eden Gardens was deserving of being selected as the venue of the 2016 WorldT20 – something which has irked Ganguly very much.

"We hosted the IPL final also this season with a 70,000 capacity which was as big as any. When you have cricket matches over 25 years there would be one or two matches that would be washed away especially when monsoon drags along to September and October in Kolkata,” he said.

“Are there not other venues around the world that have been washed out due to rain? There have been days where games have been washed out at Lord's also, Melbourne also, Cape Town also," an irate Ganguly added further.

CAB treasurer echoes Ganguly’s thoughts

CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey fully backed Ganguly’s views regarding Eden Gardens’ suitability to host the World Twenty20 final, with a rather bizarre remark.

"If unlawful activities rise in New Delhi then will the capital be shifted?.” Dey quipped, as reported by IBNLive.

Dey, who had asked for the chief curator Prabir Mukherjee’s resignation on Thursday, softened his stance and revealed that he will have a talk with Mukherjee to clear the air.

"Such things happen in everyone's life. Sometimes even a top class doctor fails to get a patient healed. He is such an experienced person and we must show some respect to him. I will speak to him personally. It was a learning experience for us," Dey said.