CAB has missed a deadline which was staring them in the face ever since the world cup tie was allotted
CAB has missed a deadline which was staring them in the face ever since the world cup tie was allotted
Paradise is in trouble. "A cricket World Cup without Eden Gardens is like a kiss without a hug'' was a telling quip on twitter when the ICC's decision to take the India-England game away from the venue was announced on Thursday. I appreciate the imagery and droll sense of humour but still find no reason to smile.u00a0 
Fans display the Indian flag during the tri series final between India and
Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2003. Pic/Getty Images
In fact, I am seething. This is a sour joke, made cruel by the excuse that the stadium will be ready in time to host matches between South Africa and Ireland and Ireland and Netherlands!
How could the Cricket Association of Bengal allow things to come to such pass? This is not merely dereliction of duty, but a slur on Indian cricket.
Passion
If Mumbai is the home of Indian cricket, Kolkata is its soul. Passion for the sport, which is now an indelible global metaphor of Indian life, is best represented by this city and its fanatical following. A key match -- and one involving India -- being moved from here is not only unthinkable but heresy.
Is a World Cup in England without a match at Lord's or The Oval conceivable? Can Australia dare to have a tournament bypassing the MCG and SCG?
It is dismaying to say the least that CAB has missed a deadline which was staring them in the face ever since the World Cup schedule was allotted to the sub-continent a few years ago. It riles me further that the Bengal cricket administration did not learn anything from the mess-ups that were brought to light when the countdown for the Commonwealth Games began early last year.
But while a 'chalta-hai' attitude has been symptomatic of public-spend endeavours (public outrage will hopefully see this being corrected in the future), why should the country's richest sports body -- and one which brags that it is private, not government controlled -- be guilty of missing a 'sitting duck' deadline? Even the Commonwealth Stadia, for all the brouhaha, were up in time for the Games to be staged.
Jagmohan Dalmiya, who not only runs the CAB but has been BCCI and ICC chief in the past, should surely have been more diligent. It's not that he is bereft of experience at getting the stadium ready in time for a mega event. In 1987, for instance, he was the driving force behind the World Cup coming to India when the final was played at the Eden.
There is some talk that Dalmiya's foes within the cricket administration have indulged in politics and swayed the ICC to deliver this harsh judgment on the CAB chief. Admittedly, there is always an internecine war being played out at the subterranean level between the various factions in the BCCI, so this is not entirely
unfounded.
Why, a very senior functionary of the Board has gone on record to say that "there are various other stadia in the country which can host the England-India match', which is supercilious argument at one level, puerile at another, but overall a tacit comment on the acrimonious sub-culture within the BCCI.
There is also the theory that the ICC has been preferential (or deferential if you want) in allowing Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium 14 days grace period and Eden Gardens none simply because this is the current ICC president Sharad Pawar's home turf.
Dalmiya to blame
Yet, none of this absolves Dalmiya of failing to meet his obligation. But more crucially, his clarion call to the BCCI president Shashank Manohar to try and influence the ICC into revising its decision must be heeded to with seriousness and alacrity.
These two individuals have not seen eye to eye on several issues in the past and many of them were distilled in public so there could be some reticence in joining hands now. Manohar's relations with Pawar too are allegedly not what they used to be, which could be another spanner in the works.
But whatever their personal differences and the BCCI politics, Pawar, Manohar and Dalmiya need to cast these aside for now and ensure that the Eden Gardens gets the coveted World Cup match: For India's sake.
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