Calcutta: With police personnel present at the venue right from the start, there were no heated exchange of words or other unwarranted incidents on the final day of the East Bengal-Mohun Bagan CAB first division championship play-off round semi-final tie here on Monday. But the game, once again, was in the news for the wrong reasons.
A power failure struck the JU Salt Lake Campus ground on Monday and it lasted till the game got over. But what made matters worse was the lack of a generator at the venue.
Players found it "unbearable" inside the dressing room and some of them preferred to sit outside under a tree for a while, trying to get some relief from the scorching heat.
The views of India and Bengal wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who represented Bagan in this game, gave a hint of what players were going through. To add to al this, an ambulance which is scheduled to be present at all times during a game, arrived much later on Monday.
"Look, it's not our job to point out to the state association what are the requirements. We should get these facilities (a generator and ambulance) at the venue.
"It's not easy to play in such sweltering heat. In places like Australia and Sri Lanka, we often get to feel a breeze blowing sometimes, but no such thing happened here in these few days.
"We're not complaining, though. We are players and our duty is to play for our respective sides. We'll just keep playing, that's it," Saha said after Bagan's 146-run loss.
Cricket Association of Bengal tournament committee chairman Subroto Sarkar said: "Power supply is not in CAB's hands. Plus, generators are there mainly during BCCI and international matches."
But CAB joint secretary Subir Ganguly was pretty upset. "It's appalling that there was no generator for a Mohun Bagan-East Bengal match. I don't think this has ever happened in the past."
Summarised scores
• East Bengal 390/9. Mohun Bagan 244 (J. Basu 109; Sourav Mondal 6/72). East Bengal won by 146 runs.
• Bhowanipore 390. Town Club 393 (387+6)/9 (D. Ghosh 104 n.o.). Town Club won by 1 wicket.
