The crowd is abuzz, the atmosphere is electric, but nothing, oh quite nothing, will ever be like the Eden Gardens.

— Tony Greig, at a packed Sharjah stadium in 1998.

The famous reverberating roar of a hundred thousand spectators at the Eden Gardens is being sacrificed for the sake of spectator comfort, shrinking every other cricketer’s favourite turf to a 60,000-capacity stadium.

A senior official of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) revealed on Wednesday that bucket seats would also replace the concrete galleries of blocks D and E in a departure from the original renovation plan, which was to have reduced the ground’s seating capacity to around 70,000.

“With timelines being maintained to complete work before the World Cup, we decided to replace the concrete rows with bucket seats around two months ago. Sadly, this will further bring down the capacity of the stadium to 60,000, but a top stadium needs to ensure spectator comfort,” Bishwarup Dey, the joint secretary of the CAB, told Metro.

Although the Eden Gardens would still remain the country’s largest cricket stadium in terms of capacity along with the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, the second round of downsizing could be a damper for cricketers and commentators who have marvelled at a jam-packed Eden Gardens over the decades.

The change could also mean lesser number of low-priced seats for fans. “Concrete seats allowed extra spectators to pack into a gallery, raising the stadium’s capacity beyond the official figure on big match days. It won’t be the same anymore,” rued an Eden regular.

CAB sources said a second tier might be added to Block J after the World Cup to slightly raise Eden’s seating capacity, which has fluctuated over the years. The ground had hosted the December 2009 India-Sri Lanka ODI, a Test versus South Africa and seven IPL3 matches when blocks B, C, K and L were out of bounds, reducing the seating capacity to 48,038.

The last makeover, before the 1987 Reliance Cup, had boosted the stadium’s capacity to 89,000. But with blocks G and H being converted to plastic chairs post-2005, seating capacity was reduced to 82,000.

Eden may shrink, but it will shine brighter, say officials. “Some galleries have been pulled down while the concrete rows are being replaced with plastic chairs in others. The infrastructure is being upgraded, from water supply and sewerage to toilets and food courts,” said Hiten Shah, director, VMS Engineering and Design, the Ahmedabad-based firm assisting in the renovation.

The dressing rooms, press box and VIP boxes are also being jazzed up. The electronic scoreboard will be replaced by a giant TV screen. Another screen will be put up to the left of the BC Roy Club House.

The World Cup starts on February 19, 2011, and the first match at Eden 60,000 is on February 27 — India vs England. Maybe with Tony Greig in the commentary box.