BCCI recommends Bangalore as alternate venue for India-England tie

Mtoday news

New Delhi, Jan 30 : The ICC has formally conveyed to the BCCI about its inability to hold the India vs England World Cup match at the Eden Gardens, February 27.The BCCI issued a release of ICC conveying its inability to hold the match at Eden Gardens on February 27.

The Cricket Board said it has recommended Bangalore as the alternate venue for the match.

 

 

"The ICC has conveyed to the BCCI that it will not be able to hold the India Vs England match of the ICC CWC 2011 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on 27 February 2011.
"The BCCI has recommended Bengaluru as the alternate venue," BCCI Secretary & President-Elect N Srinivasan said in the release.

The hectic political lobbying that was on for the past 48 hours since it was announced that Eden’s marquee match will be shifted went in vain with the BCCI announcing ICC’s verdict.

The last ditch effort by West Bengal Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee didn’t yield any results. Since morning, there were rumours in the CAB corridors that ICC might just consider the plea to extend the deadline of completion of work till February 7.
Even former BCCI president and Cricket Association of Bengal supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya who had a telephonic conversation with ICC president Sharad Pawar expressed a glimmer of hope as he was assured that ICC would send an e-mail intimating them about the list of dos.

"I have spoken to Pawar, N Srinivasan, Arun Jaitley, Ratnakar Shetty not less than five to six times."Pawar is updating me about his whereabouts and in the afternoon -- around  2.30pm -- said the letter would come in half an hour. But we are yet to receive anything," an upset Dalmiya told reporters before he received the killer blow in the form of a final rejection from the ICC. said.

It’s been a terrible setback for CAB that even someone as important as Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention couldn’t tilt the scales in CAB’s favour.
So devastated was Dalmiya after hearing the news that he confined himself in his chamber at the DR B.C.Roy Club House at Eden Gardens and refused to come out.
"I have lot of things to sort out and I can’t talk to the media today," he literally ran for cover as the waiting mediapersons hounded him.

The joint secretary of the state association Biswarup Dey conceded that it’s all over for Eden Gardens as of now.

"We all thought that we have got a lifeline but now it seems that all hopes of having the match are over.