Kolkata: Eden Gardens, the historic venue where the action shifts with the first of the three-match T20 series against the West Indies on Wednesday, is expected to offer a good batting surface with something in it for the pace bowlers early on in the innings.
The buzz around the stadium, which will be hosting all three matches on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, has kicked in with Rohit Sharma & Co getting down for their first practice session on Monday evening while the Caribbeans had extended workout sessions ever since touching down on Sunday. The famous roar of the crowd will, however, be missing as only around 2000 complimentary tickets for the members are being issued - with no ticket sales for the public as per the directive of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
‘‘We expect it to be 170-180 run wicket, much like how it played in the last ODI against New Zealand in November,’’ Sujan Mukherjee, curator of the Eden wicket told Gulf News. ‘‘It should be a good batting surface with some bounce and carry early on,’’ said Mukherjee, also a senior official of the hosting association Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).
The toss will assume a lot of significance here at this time of the year with the dew factor certain to kick in and the Indian team management has surely kept an eye on it during their evening practice session. Asked about it, Mukherjee said: ‘‘Let’s treat it as a part of the game which can affect both teams. The groundstaff will be at hand for mopping up the outfield mechanically with green signal from both captains.’’
The idea of hosting a cluster of matches at the same venue has become a practice in global cricket during the last two years of Covid-19 pandemic as it helps the teams to avoid travel and be part of a single Bio Bubble during the duration of the series. While Ahmedabad hosted all three ODIs, the two teams have been put up in separate hotels here - while the CAB President Abhishek Dalmiya is excited to get some international cricket back in the city.
‘‘It’s definitely heartening to stage international matches here again soon after the New Zealand game. If you recall, we were bracing up to host a India-South Africa ODI early in 2020 with the teams already in the city when the tour was called off with the pandemic setting in. At that point of time, we had no idea that it would continue for so long,’’ Dalmiya, son of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the late legendary administrator, said.
‘‘Over a period of time, we have grown accustomed to what it takes to host matches in this environment as we have hosted both domestic and international matches and it’s been the same set of people handling it. However, these are tough times and there is no room for complacency,’’ he said. The CAB, on their part, has once again requested the BCCI ‘‘to reconsider allowing spectators’’ for the second and third games in light of the state government’s go-ahead for upto 75% attendance at all public events.
Earlier, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour admitted that there is a definite plus about playing the two white ball series in grounds with bigger boundaries like Ahmedabad and now Kolkata. Admitting that it can serve as an early preparation for the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, the former Indian Test opener said: “The closest we can get to the real thing, the better it is. That’s what we want, like bigger boundaries so that we can test ourselves against those kinds of conditions.”
