Kolkata, March 19: While India celebrated the victory of its cricket team over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup at the Eden Gardens on Saturday (March 19), the effort put in by CAB president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly to keep the ground dry despite a heavy downpour was lauded by a number of people.

VVS Laxman, once Ganguly's colleague in the Indian cricket team, praised him as a cricket administrator. Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle and cricketer Pragyan Ojha also praised Ganguly for his efforts.

Eden Gardens made the headlines for wrong reasons a couple of times in the past after rain led to cancellation of international matches. Last October, a T20 match between India and South Africa was abandoned at this venue after just half an hour of rain because of poor drainage facilities.





The picture of Ganguly, the president-designate then, walking barefoot with his trousers rolled up to see the recovery work in the ground on that occasion remained an irony of sort.

This time, Ganguly was alert since the occasion was much bigger with Pakistan being a side in the match. He himself monitored the pitch-protecting exercise after it rained heavily on Saturday to ensure that the iconic venue did not lose its face.



Television footage showed Ganguly walking across the ground and examining it with his hands and talking to the ground staff members.

The match was under focus not only because it involved India and Pakistan but also because it was shifted from Dharamshala to Kolkata owing to security reasons. Hence the CAB president and his team had the extra responsibility to see that the match did not go waste. Finally, it was held with deduction of just two overs a side and India won it to pay Ganguly back his favour.

Oneindia News