Eden Gardens’ England-Made Covers Should be Used at WC: Ganguly

Ganguly expressed his disappointment over the inability of the ICC to counter constant rain in the World Cup. 

(Photo: Twitter/ @SGanguly99) 

The game between India and New Zealand was the fourth instance in 2019 World Cup when a game was called off due to constant rain. As result, India and New Zealand who are the only unbeaten teams in the tournament so far, had to split points.

The game being called off evoked emotional reactions from the cricketing fraternity and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly expressed his disappointment over the inability of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to counter such scenarios.

Talking to Star Sports, on the post-match show Cricket Live, Ganguly spoke about how the drainage facilities at the Eden Gardens are better than that of England’s grounds.

“The covers that are used in India, at the Eden Gardens are from England and using them here (in England) would have meant spending half the cost and it is also tax-free, so they should have used those here anyway. In India we use these covers for all matches, so that when the rain stops the match can resume within 10 minutes.” 

Sourav Ganguly, Former Indian Captain 

“They are very light covers, it’s not difficult to lift it, you don’t need too much manpower. The blue covers that were used earlier in India, used to take more than 10 times the time and people in comparison to now”, he further added.

He next highlighted how the covers used in Lord’s and Eden Gardens are translucent covers and how quick usage of the same at the other grounds could help the match start sooner.

“The covers that are in Eden Gardens and in Lords are translucent covers, so light goes past it. This way the grass won’t dry up nor will the colour change from green to brown, if you use them to cover the outfield. For such important matches, and in a tournament like the World Cup – especially in a country like England where the rains are so frequent, having these covers are very important, especially on the outfield as well.”

Sourav Ganguly, Former Indian Captain 

Ganguly, however, reasoned the washout on Thursday due to the heavy rain at Trent Bridge since the last three days and how it affected the conditions.

“Today’s case is different, the match was called off not only because of the rain today – but it has been raining continuously for the past three days. The two reasons for the delay were firstly, the wet pitch and secondly, something that the viewers on screen can’t see is how dark the ground is, the match can’t begin in such a dark setting” concluded Ganguly.