Eden Gardens stands a decent chance of being one of the semi-final venues for next year's T20 World Cup, to be held in India and Sri Lanka.
The Wankhede in Mumbai could be the other semi-final venue, while the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, in all likelihood, will stage the decider of the T20 showpiece that begins on February 7 and concludes on March 8.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) cleared the venues at its meeting in Dubai on Thursday. The fixtures are expected soon.
It was learnt that Delhi (Arun Jaitley Stadium) and Chennai (MA Chidambaram Stadium) could be the other venues alongside Mumbai, Ahmedabad and the Eden for the Cup matches in India. Pakistan will be playing their Cup matches in Sri Lanka, where Colombo (Premdasa Stadium) and Kandy are set to be the venues.
Initially, it seemed the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati would be a strong contender to host a few marquee games of the T20 World Cup, but the ICC is focusing on the bigger centres. "It's a lot more convenient if the (T20) World Cup games take place in bigger centres like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta," an ICC official said on Thursday.
"Regarding the semi-finals, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai are on the shortlist. But the venue in Chennai still has certain issues with the corporation there, which implies Mumbai and Calcutta are slightly ahead in the race."
The official added: "Besides, Guwahati has already staged quite a few Women's ODI World Cup matches, including a semi-final, and will be staging the India-South Africa Test too. That way, the venue has had its share of marquee games."
The Cricket Association of Bengal, on its part, is also confident of hosting a few T20 Cup marquee games.