Eden Gardens will be ready for the India v Australia match: Sourav Ganguly

Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President Sourav Ganguly is confident of hosting the India v Australia encounter on September 21, despite heavy rain threatening to push for a possible wash out. It showered quite heavily in the last week in and around the West Bengal portion and the high voltage game might well be at the receiving end. But Ganguly shrugged off such possibilities.

Sujan Mukherjee, the pitch curator of Eden Gardens recently said that he was not able to start his preparations due to the foul weather. Australia will play a practice match against Board President’s XI on September 12 in Chennai before starting with the ODI series.

Pitch Curator worried

“It has been raining continuously in Kolkata. I am obviously tense and worried because I need clear sky and the sun baking the wicket so that we can prepare a good wicket. Even till Tuesday we had rain and then again, the forecast remains the same for the next few days. In fact, rainfall is expected even during the time of the ODI and those hailing from Kolkata would know that the scenario remains the same every year around this time. Eastern India experiences rainfall in these months before the monsoon retreats,” Sujan told CricketNext.

On being asked if the quality of wicket will deteriorate, giving an unwanted advantage to the visitors. Sujan said “No, there is no threat of an under-prepared wicket as such. We have prepared quality wickets in the last couple of years and don’t expect anything but the best effort from our groundsmen. But then, you cannot fight nature. Almost all regions around Kolkata is flooded at the moment. In such a scenario, to expect that you will get a belter will be wrong. The situation might well see the home team getting slight advantage as the pitch will take turn and the dampness will make stroke-playing difficult,”.

But the CAB president told reporters “The ground is in good shape and will be ready for the ODI. It rained a lot these few days but we have all bases covered,”.