India’s home series against the New Zealand is scheduled to start in September, when the Kiwis invade India for a bilateral series against the host nation. The series comprises of 3 test matches and 5 ODIs. with the third test scheduled to be played at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. However, now there has been a change of plans.
The dates of the Test match has seemingly clashed with the Durga Pujas, the most celebrated festival in West Bengal. The test has eventually been shifted to Indore. Kolkata however, doesn’t miss out and will get to host the second match which starts from September 30.
BCCI had initially allotted the third Test to the Eden Gardens, but as soon as the news spread, there were raised eyebrows among the CAB elite panel. A few moments later, CAB President Sourav Ganguly called up Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke and insisted them to change the dates of the Eden-Test. Sourav said, “We had previously discussed in the working committee that Eden would not host a Test during the Durga Puja. They must have forgotten, but changed the dates as soon as they realised it.”
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Another worry for the CAB is the wicket. September is the time of the year when Kolkata receives a considerable amount of downpour, and it becomes difficult to prepare a proper wicket. “It is not an easy job to prepare a wicket in September. It’s quite challenging. Since we have been given the responsibility, we will try our best” said Sujan Mukhopadhyay, Eden’s current pitch curator.
Former Indian cricketer and CAB president Sourav Ganguly was however pretty confident about hosting the match. He said, “I don’t think there is going to be a problem. We are going to prepare the wicket as we do normally.”
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Few years back, matches of the Champions League had to be shifted from the Eden Gardens due to extreme showers, when he was reminded of the incident, he said, “It is not a big deal that it did not happen back then. It’s not going to repeat, wait and see for yourselves.”
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