Ticket counters wear a deserted look for the Kolkata Test

The return series in the India vs Sri Lanka rivalry was set to kick off earlier today, but there has been postponement owing to bad weather. The demand for tickets has subsequently gone down for India’s first Test fixture against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens. The ticket counters at the venue also bore a deserted look while the relentless rain played spoilsport with all the preparations.

The city was cursed with unending rain on the eve of the tie with more light showers predicted by the weather department for the next 48 hours. The ground was under covers since morning as both the teams didn’t get an opportunity to practice. While India skipper Virat Kohli spoke to media persons at the team hotel, his counterpart Dinesh Chandimal was only accompanied by team manager and national selector Asanka Gurusinha for the pre-match press conference.

An official of weather department revealed, “The sky over Calcutta will remain overcast from Wednesday to Friday under the impact of a well-marked low-pressure area that is making its way up the Bay of Bengal along the Indian coast.”

Ample tickets left to be sold in all three categories

Despite the presence of world-class players and the fact that India is playing a Test after a gap of three months, ticket sales have been at a bare minimum. The rain threat coupled with the fact that the Men in Blue thrashed the Islanders at their home across all formats of the game can be dubbed as the reason for such depleted ticket sales.

There are ample tickets left to be sold in all three categories revealed a source. Tickets have been priced at Rs 100, Rs 150 and Rs 200 for each day.

Earlier in 2015, Eden Gardens outfield and drainage system came under a lot of criticism after an IPL season 8 match and a Twenty20I match between India and South Africa were abandoned as the umpires, after frequent inspections, decided to call off the match due to the wet outfield. The India-Australia ODI at Eden on September 21, 2017, suffered a similar fate too.