Eden Gardens washout leaves CAB red-faced

KOLKATA: The poor drainage facilities at the Eden Gardens continue to disappoint cricket fans. A half-an-hour drizzle in the afternoon proved bad enough for the ground to be declared unfit for play as the third Twenty20 match between India and South was called off without a ball being bowled on Thursday. The visitors won the series 2-0.
The incident should come as a major embarrassment for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), which is readying to host the ICC World T20 final on April 3 next year.
It was a forgettable evening for former India skipper Sourav Ganguly too, who is scheduled to take over as CAB's new president next week. He himself inspected the ground after the afternoon rain and looked after the groundstaff work, but in vain.
Sourav, however, didn't want to point fingers in any particular direction, stating it was a "collective failure" for the association.
Team India director Ravi Shastri said, "It was a huge disappointment not to get a game at the Eden Gardens mainly because of the large number of fans that turn up here."
Umpires Anil Chaudhary and Vineet Kulkarni made three inspections - at 7.30pm, 8.30pm and 9.30pm - before calling off the match.
This is not the first time a match has been abandoned at the Eden Gardens without scoring. The problem lies in the venue's soil character, which has heavy water-retention capacity, and primarily the poor underground drainage system, which keeps the field soggy. Without proper sunlight, it is not possible to dry up the ground here by artificial means.
Wouldn't like grass cover for ODIs: Dhoni
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that he would not prefer a lot of grass cover for the upcoming five match ODI series against the Proteas. "I don't want a lot of grass cover. It is also difficult for the spinners with dew as well." The skipper said that they were planning a few changes in the side. "Three changes, we were planning to make - Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) was supposed to open, (Suresh) Raina to bat at No. 3 and (Amit) Mishra and (Stuart) Binny would have played."