Eden Gardens will host second India-Australia ODI, assures Sourav Ganguly

What's the story?

Sourav Ganguly, the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has stated that the Eden Gardens will be ready to host the second ODI between India and Australia scheduled to take place on 21 September. He made this statement after continuous rains in the city threatened to play spoilsport.

Affirming that the ground is ready to host the encounter, Ganguly said,"The ground is in good shape and will be ready for the ODI. It rained a lot these few days but we have all bases covered."

In case you didn't know...

It has been raining heavily in Kolkata ever since the monsoon struck the eastern coast of India. Earlier, the curator of Eden Gardens, Sujan Mukherjee, was asked if they had started to prepare the wicket for the big match.

Mukherjee in reply stated that he wasn't even able to access the wicket, implying that preparing them was completely out of the question.

Soon after that, Ganguly released the statement confirming that the ground will be ready to host the match.

The details

Mukherjee had earlier explained that they needed proper sunlight for the wickets to bake. That's the prime requirement as it would facilitate the preparation of a good wicket and the drying of the ground. Meanwhile, the weather forecast has predicted rain in the next few days as well as on the day of the ODI.

Despite these issues, Mukherjee was confident that the wickets would not remain underprepared for the match. He said that his team and the ground staff have put in a lot of effort in order to keep the ground and the wickets protected. He also believes that the dampness on the pitch will end up working in India's favour.

However, Sujan had his own set of grievances. He said that in the past the games were held in the eastern region only during the winter. If they schedule the matches in a region that receives excessive rainfall during this time of the year, they are bound to face such adversity.

What's next?

The CAB is confident that the match will not be moved out of Kolkata. They will aim at preparing the ground in order to act as perfect hosts and live up to their reputation.

The match is slated to be held on 21 September and the CAB has its task cut out if it is to aim to defy nature.

Author's take

One of the most popular grounds in the world of cricket, Eden Gardens is famous for its electric atmosphere.

However, having said this, the ground is currently under deluge after incessant rain over the past month. The conflicting statements coming out of the CAB are making things even murkier and one only hopes the match does not face the brunt of any sort of miscommunication.

The BCCI too will be keenly watching the sequence of events and if no consensus is reached, the match could well be moved out of the city.