Eden Gardens Robbed Once More, This Time of CL T20 by Weather

The Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Kolkata is under a spell, alright. And this time like the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, they are set to look some keen matches in the Champions League Twenty20 2011.

Eden Gardens

It may be recalled that the Eden Gardens in Kolkata was at the centre of controversy ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The ICC inspection reported insufficient time for the stadium to be ready for the World Cup fixtures as pre-decided even though the CAB alleged that there was a conspiracy to deny Kolkata matches as a nexus between the ICC and the BCCI. Eventually despite protests and attempts to suggest that another small time leeway of ten days would have cleared the stadium, Eden Gardens lost the only big match it was to host, that of the India versus England match.

With the India England match shifted to Bengaluru, Eden Gardens lost the opportunity to host such a critical match but also, the match ended up being a tie which the cricket fans in Bengaluru certainly lapped up even as India slowly gathered momentum in the tournament to go on to win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 after a gap of twenty-eight years since Kapil Dev’s Indian team won it in 1983 at Lord’s.

Now Eden Gardens was one of three venues to host the main draw of the Champions League Twenty20 2011. However, it appears it has been hard done by yet again and now will not host any matches of the IPL spin off as a result of it. The reason behind Eden Gardens pulling out on hosting any of the Champions League Twenty20 matches has nothing to do with politics but rather due to the weather.

It has been raining incessantly and although the pitch appears to have been protected, the outfield and water logging has caused a great deal of concern. With the monsoon season wrecking havoc in the region, there was also considerable concern that rain could continue to disrupt the tournament and thereby, rob spectators of some of the cricket action otherwise designed for Kolkata.

With that in mind, the Cricket Association of Bengal came to conclusion with the CLT20 organizers that it was in the best interests for all that the matches were shifted out of Eden Gardens, which has now meant that Hyderabad and Bengaluru will now share the Champions League Twenty20 2011 matches. There were also certain concerns expressed by some of the foreign teams about the venue in Bengaluru after a low intensity bomb went off outside the venue during the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 in 2009. However, those fears were sufficiently allayed thereby, reducing the problems for the organizers.

What this also means is that Hyderabad, which is currently hosting the Champions League Twenty20 2011 qualifier tournament, will get to host some more of the major matches of the main draw of the tournament. One stadium’s loss continues to be another’s gain and Bengaluru is certainly enjoying some of Kolkata’s share at the moment.