Eden Gardens World Cup fiasco turns political with CAB chief Dalmiya turning to Pranab Mukherjee; Bengal CM has his say too
Eden Gardens World Cup fiasco turns political with CAB chief Dalmiya turning to Pranab Mukherjee; Bengal CM has his say too
Who says cricket and politics should never mix? The Eden Gardens fiasco has turned into a political game. In a desperate attempt to help Eden Gardens get back their February 27 India vs England World Cup fixture, Cricket Association of Bengal chief Jagmohan Dalmiya met finance minister and Congressman Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday.
It is learnt that Dalmiya has urged Mukherjee to convince International Cricket Council (ICC) president Sharad Pawar to somehow award Eden the match.
On Thursday, the ICC ruled out Eden Gardens as the host for the important fixture because renovation work at the stadium was not completed. This was followed by ICC turning down Board of Control for Cricket in India's request to reconsider their decision.
Meanwhile, BCCI president Shashank Manohar told SUNDAY MiD DAY: "I think it is an impossible situation. As per my information, the ground is not ready."
Who'll get it?The BCCI will decide on an alternate venue on Monday. It is learnt that Mumbai Cricket Association, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (Chennai), Vidarbha Cricket Association (Nagpur) and Karnataka State Cricket Association (Bangalore) are ready to stage the match.
West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was kept updated on the developments. During the day, he said: "I have told my sports minister (Kanti Ganguly), Ashoke Bhattacharya (another minister) to take Sourav Ganguly along to meet Sharad Pawar to solve this problem."
It is learnt that Bhattacharya called up Pawar on Saturday night and requested him to give CAB time till February 7 to get things in order at Eden Gardens. Interestingly, the chief minister and Dalmiya don't see eye to eye.
The former BCCI chief refused to speak to the media, but said he would hold a press conference today. The Board was quick to look at alternate venues after ICC stuck to their stand. "It is a decision taken by the ICC and we have no control over it.
We did our best to back the request made by CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya, but beyond that we can't do anything. It is the decision of ICC president Sharad Pawar and chief executive officer Haroon Lorgat," Srinivasan was quoted as saying to IANS.
Asked which stadium would host the match, Srinivasan said: "The ICC hasn't approached us on the alternate venue. And once they do, we will consult the associations and finalise the alternate venue by Jan 31."
Not possibleLorgat informed Manohar that the ICC was in no position to give in to the Board's request. "I told him (Manohar) the ICC could not accommodate the request. There was too much of planning and too much of logistics that would be involved," Lorgat was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.
