|
Calcutta: The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB)’s weird ways came to the forefront on Wednesday.
But they won’t be able to pass the buck as it is their callousness which is to be blamed.
Why? Because the opening day’s proceedings of the CAB Senior Division League match, featuring East Bengal and Kalighat Club, had to be abandoned because of the wet pitch conditions at Eden Gardens.
If you are thinking there’s nothing unusual with that, think again because the weather didn’t have any role in it. The actual reason behind the abandonment was that the groundsmen watered all the available pitches as they were not aware that the match had been scheduled on Wednesday.
“This wouldn’t have happened had the CAB informed me about this fixture. I wasn’t there on Monday since I had taken a day’s leave. The groundsmen didn’t know and watered the playing arena,” said curator Prabir Mukherjee.
But CAB joint-secretary Subir Ganguly negated that point as he said: “Each and every game has a mention in the annual list of matches. This match too was mentioned. But somehow, it seems that the groundsmen didn’t know of it. One can’t blame them though, since they work hard throughout the year.”
Interestingly, both Kalighat and East Bengal had been informed beforehand of the contest. “We knew that the game was on. But all of a sudden, we heard this morning that play would not be held because the pitch had been watered as the groundsmen had no idea whatsoever of this match.
“We’ll decide on our course of action if play is abandoned on Thursday as well,” a Kalighat official said.
As per the rules, there has to be a minimum of 40 overs of play. Else, the teams will have to share points.
If insiders in CAB are to be believed, it’s difficult to host the game on Thursday as prevailing weather conditions may not help the wet pitch dry so quickly.
Though some may argue that it was a plain and simple case of miscommunication, the CAB should mend its ways.
Manoj Tiwary, who was named in Rest of India and India A squads that would face Australia on Tuesday, was perhaps the most disappointed with the abandonment of the match.
The India international and Bengal captain was seriously looking for some good practice ahead of his upcoming challenge. “I feel my batting is getting better day by day. I’m trying to make full use of these CAB league matches. The Kalighat-East Bengal game too is important for me as I need to be amongst runs,” Tiwary had stressed on Tuesday.
It actually turned out to be a pretty disturbing day for many. In Kalyani, Tollygunge Agragami and Town Club had a match. But two players from either side were involved in a brawl during the course of the game.
| 
