Eden Gardens’ fate as World Cup venue to be decided on Sunday: Sharad Pawar
On Saturday, Sharad Pawar, president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), said that the fate of the under-scrutiny Eden Gardens as a World Cup venue for the India-England match would be decided on Sunday, January 30, 2011.
The ICC president said in a statement that he has asked the ICC CEO http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719 to bring him a report on the status of the stadium today and a final decision would be taken after he goes through the report prepared by the ICC inspection team.
"I will get the report this evening. After that, an ICC Committee will deliberate on whether Eden will host the matches or not," said Pawar.
The historic stadium in Kolkata was stripped from hosting the February 27 match between the hosts India and England after the Cricket Association of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bengal-c771 failed to meet the deadline for the completion of construction work.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), at the request of the CAB, appealed to the International Cricket Council to extend the deadline to February 7 but the apex body rejected the board’s plea within hours.
But now Pawar has given the Kolkata fans some hopes after he said that the final decision on whether the match will be held in Kolkata or in some other venue will be taken on January 30.
Pawar said that the cricket fans should have been considered while taking any decision as they would have made their plans months in advance.
"Fans from other countries would be also coming to see the World Cup and they would have made their travel plans much in advance. Any last-minute change would hassle them," he said.
Eden Gardens is scheduled to host a total of four matches in the month-long group stage and the match between India and England was the only marquee contest to be staged at the historical venue. The other three matches mostly feature minnows. These include http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752 and will be played on March 20.
The other World Cup venue of India which is running behind the completion deadline is Wankhede stadium in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750-England match.
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