Eden fiasco: BCCI asks ICC to reconsider

Tags: ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Eden Gardens, BCCI

Published on: Jan 28, 2011

A slap is the best way to describe it. For a superpower – in terms of the finances – like India, to have one of its venues to be stripped of the right to host a World Cup game can be nothing short of a slap across its face. And the best comeback line that the president of the BCCI could come up with? ‘It is not our lookout, it was the ICC’s lookout to talk to the Eden Gardens authorities directly.

A slap is the best way to describe it. For a superpower – in terms of the finances – like India, to have one of its venues to be stripped of the right to host a World Cup game can be nothing short of a slap across its face. And the best comeback line that the president of the BCCI could come up with? ‘It is not our lookout, it was the ICC’s lookout to talk to the Eden Gardens authorities directly.

Come on, till when can the BCCI continue with such a high-handed approach towards handling things? Can’t they see that an incident of this proportion is not only an embarrassment for the board but also a huge letdown from the fans’ perspective? It is not about the people of Kolkata here and the fact that they would, invariably end up revolting against the decision. That is an extreme that one cannot vouch for. But it could have happened anywhere – in fact, Mumbai was lucky to be let off so easily.

And yet, the BCCI has failed to take responsibility? Conspiracy theorists have already alleged that the issue was to do with the issue that exists between Jagmohan Dalmiya and the BCCI ever since the former was ousted from the post of BCCI chief. However, that can hardly hold ground because it was only recently that the case against Dalmiya was taken back by the BCCI in a bid to get him to their side in the fight against Lalit Modi. It is difficult to see how they can get going against him again.

To me, it is a straight forward case of callousness on part of the CAB officials, with the BCCI not carrying out its core function of involving themselves in this task. Quite clearly the BCCI now wants to wash its hands off the issue which means that the entire blame will fall on the laps of Dalmiya and his cronies at the association.

The BCCI needs to take part of the blame alright given that they are responsible for the smooth taking off for the tournament, but one fails to understand how can a stadium not get ready despite not knowing in advance of the plans. The work on Eden had started a couple of years ago and do we live in the Stone Age that the work has yet not completed? Clearly, there are more such questions that will keep getting asked of the board and the Bengal association.

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