ICC World Cup 2019: Sourav Ganguly suggests a solution after India-New Zealand washout

The World Cup 2019 in England and Wales has been a frustrating one both for the players as well as the supporters. Out of 18 matches thus far, even as three got abandoned without the toss, the match between the Windies and South Africa in Southampton was called off after only 7.3 overs of the game. At this point, only Afghanistan, Australia, and England’s matches haven’t been called off.

On Thursday, June 13, India and New Zealand were scheduled to lock horns at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. The toss was initially delayed due to a wet outfield and thereafter, the rain started playing hide and seek, much to everyone’s agony. The sun didn’t make its way out while the conditions got soggier. Even the on-field umpires admitted that the atmosphere wasn’t conducive to getting match ready in time.

The groundsmen tried their hearts out to mitigate the damage caused by the downpour but to no avail. Prior to the encounter, both the Men in Blue and the Black Caps were unbeaten and a cracker of a match seemed to be on the cards. At 19:30 IST, the match was called off and both teams shared one point each. Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain who’s on the commentary panel for the mega event, mentioned that England should change their covers that should help early resumption of a match despite the rain interrupting play. The covers he suggested are used at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

India uses covers from England

He mentioned that the covers they use at the Eden Gardens are anyway imported from England and if they were to use those would, in fact, be pretty cost effective as well.

“The covers that are used in India, at the Eden Gardens are from England and using them here (in England) would have meant spending half the cost and it is also tax-free, so they should have used those here anyway. In India, we use these covers for all matches, so that when the rain stops the match can resume within 10 minutes,” Ganguly said.

The current version of the covers that are being used in India are light thus consume less time and manpower to be put in place. It is also translucent thus allowing light to pass through, which helps in maintaining the colour of the grass. Ganguly also highlighted the importance of using those for the outfield as well.

“They are very light covers, it’s not difficult to lift it, you don’t need too much manpower. The blue covers that were used earlier in India, used to take more than 10 times the time and people in comparison to now. The covers that are in Eden Gardens and in Lord’s are translucent covers, so light goes past it,” Ganguly, who’s also the president of the CAB, mentioned.

“This way the grass won’t dry up nor will the colour change from green to brown, if you use them to cover the outfield. For such important matches, and in a tournament like the World Cup — especially in a country like England, where the rains are so frequent, having these covers are very important, especially on the outfield as well,” the 46-year-old added.