Kolkata: For a stadium that had witnessed a crowd of 80,000-plus turnout during the epic India-Australia 2001 Test, the historical Eden Gardens today wore a sorry figure with less than 10,000 filling in on the opening day of the India-West Indies second Test.
With Tendulkar’s impending 100 international century, which he eventually missed in India’s first innings, being the only attraction against the low-key West Indians, the Eden had a vacant look with less than 1,000 turning up at the start.
Such was the misery that former English Test cricketer turned commentator Tony Greig described the historical venue as a “morgue” in a tweet.
The Eden Gardens had a vacant look with less than 1,000 turning up at the start. Getty Images
“Eden Gardens was one of my favourite grounds because of its wonderful atmosphere. Today it looks and sounds like a morgue,” the former English allrounder wrote, blaming it on a Monday start.
According to figures available from the hosts Cricket Association of Bengal, about 10,000 people were in attendance when Tendulkar batted in the second session.
In fact, crowd started pouring in the post-lunch session hearing Tendulkar bat but once he got out for 38 there was little hope even as Eden’s popular duo of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted nicely.Laxman’s 281 and Dravid’s 180 in an epic 376-run stand in the 2001 Test had helped India rise from the dead for a 171-run win after being asked to follow on against Australia.
Incidentally, the Eden Gardens that hosted its third international match in the last 20 days had witnessed something similar earlier.
In the India-England ODI on 25 October, only 27,000 were in attendance, lowest in match involving the home team. The Twenty20 International though had a sizeable crowd of about 35,000.
The renovated Eden Gardens with all bucket seats now seats 67,000 from the earlier 1 lakh-plus.
CAB prints wrong match timings
Meanwhile, the CAB goofed-up big time when it printed the wrong timing of the Test match in the tickets issued to spectators as well as media.
Test and first-class matches normally begin at 9 am in the venue, located in the eastern region of India, but for some mysterious reasons, the CAB printed 9.30 am as start time.
When inquired, CAB refused to admit the mistake and claimed the match was earlier scheduled to begin at 9.30 am, which appeared ridiculous.
“There will be an advertisement in tomorrow’s newspaper about the start timing. It was not a mistake as earlier the match was supposed to begin at 9.30 am,” CAB joint secretary Biswarup Dey said.
Yesterday, the low sightscreens problem had once again cropped up when Sachin Tendulkar expressed his unhappiness over the height before CAB readily agreed and raised it by five feet.
PTI Courtesy First post
