Eden eyes size summit – Spectator loss still a bigger worry for CAB than lost stadium-capacity crown

The Eden Gardens is aiming to reclaim the crown of India’s largest cricket stadium by next year, never mind the dearth of spectators in Calcutta to fill a fourth of those seats for a Test match.

Eden had shrunk from size 89,000 to 60,000 in the run-up to the World Cup, leaving many dismayed at the thought of their favourite stadium losing its famous reverberating roar. The unofficial capacity, people standing included, used to be around 1,30,000 back in those days when an international match at the ground meant looking for tickets months in advance.

The additional seats that will take Eden ahead of DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai — both currently have the same capacity — have been planned in Block J. A second tier will be added to that block after the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting next month and elections to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) in July.

“The roofs of the newly constructed blocks B, C, K and L are being fitted right now and we hope to finish before the IPL season commences. The turnstiles and the proposed upper tier of Block J should be ready by the start of the 2013 edition of the IPL,” CAB joint secretary Biswarup Dey said.

But will giving Eden back its size translate into restoring its reputation as cricket’s most enthusiastic — and noisiest — amphitheatre? Former cricketer Devang Gandhi said he was “very happy” about his home ground regaining top place in the stadium capacity stakes, only to add that it wasn’t just about numbers anymore.

“I have watched matches from the lounges in all the top grounds of the country and my experience has been the best in one of the Eden corporate boxes,” Devang said.

T20 cricket, corporate style, is what has kept Eden ticking of late. The once discerning Eden crowd that loved its Test cricket as much as it did the shorter game was sorely missed during the India-West Indies Test in November last year as well as the ODI against England in October. The ODI turnout of less than 27,000 was the lowest at the ground for a game featuring India.

The CAB is, of course, hoping for a turnaround soon. “Calcutta still loves its cricket and the crowds will come back. We want Eden to be prepared for that, hence the expansion,” an official said.

An engineer involved in the project said the Block J platform would have to be pulled down to lay a new foundation for two-tier seating arrangements. Turnstiles will be set up for match passes with magnetic strips on the reverse.

Block J is to the left of the BC Roy Club House.

The CAB has already spent around Rs 100 crore on the first phase of development, which included pulling down blocks B, C, K and L and redoing them with a mezzanine floor lined with plush corporate boxes.

Apart from the new chairs in the galleries, the ground now has food courts, cleaner toilets, a 3,000sq ft TV production room, underground reservoirs and fire-fighting facilities like hydrants. Sources said Rs 11 crore was being spent on the roofing, done with aluminium sheets imported from Germany.

“The roof has been designed to match the false ceiling and lighting around the corporate boxes,” an official said.

Eden could also do with more heads under those roofs.

Ranji experience helps on Bangla wickets: Vinay

Mirpur: The experience of slogging it out in the Ranji Trophy helps while bowling on a flat deck at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, feels India seamer Ranganath Vinay Kumar.

“Most of our cricket is played in these conditions in India… The tracks Down Under were helpful for seamers as it had a lot of bounce but here it is different. We will have to remember how we used to bowl in Ranji Trophy.

“In the subcontinent, compared to other countries, you have to mix it up more, bowl more slower deliveries and use subtle variations,” Vinay said on the eve of India’s match against Bangladesh.

Vinay feels that use of two Kookaburra balls from both the ends has been a help for new-ball bowlers but at the same time the batsmen also have a few things going their way.

“Two new balls is a real help for the seamers. The Kookaburra ball doesn’t swing much. With new balls at both ends, the hardness remains. But again, the batsmen can also go for their shots on these flat pitches.”

For Vinay, batting second on the Sher-e-Bangla strip has been more advantageous.

“It’s a batting track. In the first innings, the ball comes on to the bat slightly slower than under lights when it’s the conditions are better for batting.”

With two new balls, the reverse swing hasn’t been a potent weapon in recent times, but in Mirpur, the roughness of the wicket has helped the bowlers.

“In the past, there was much more reverse swing compared to now. However, in the last game, the ball did reverse as the wicket was rough. If you get a good wicket, then it is very difficult,” said Vinay.

The Karnataka medium-pacer, who has played 22 ODIs till date, feels that first impression of new bowling coach Joe Dawes was “good.”

“We didn’t get much time to interact with him yet. There are many things to learn from a bowling coach. We’ll see how it goes when we have one-on-one conversations… Definitely, I will try to take his inputs to improve my bowling.”

Asked about a defendable target, Vinay replied: “Any target in the range of 280-plus will be good to defend.”

Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said that their main aim will be to quickly get rid of two in-form men Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli.

“Gambhir and Kohli have been batting really well. Our bowlers need to hit the right areas and get rid of the duo as quickly as possible. It’s a batting friendly wicket and I believe that we have capable batsmen to chase a big total,” Rahim said.

Talking about India’s bowling, Rahim said: “India’s bowling is not as strong as Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s attack.”

IN THE CITY

Abhishek shines

Bhowanipore Club entered the semi-final of the CAB senior knock-out tournament defeating Tapan Memorial Club by 16 runs, on Thursday. Abhishek Das scored 116 for the winners.

Brief scores: Bhowanipore Club 278/6 in 45 overs (266+12 penalty) (Abhishek Das 116). Tapan Memorial 262/5 in 45 overs (Adipya Sengupta 69, Amit Shaw 67; Amit Mehera 3/57). Bhowanipore Club won by 16 runs.

Vashum blow

East Bengal midfielder Reisangmi Vashum, who got injured while playing in the AFC Challenge Cup, may be out of action for about a month, fears coach Trevor James Morgan.

“He is on plaster and may be out for about a month,” Morgan said on Thursday. Mohun Bagan’s Sunil Chetri and Jewel Raja — who also got injured — will join the team after three days and the extent of their injuries will be assessed after that.

TODAY IN SPORT

SOCCER: IFA Shield final, East Bengal vs Prayag United, from 2.30pm at Salt Lake Stadium

Return of Shukla and the curious case of selectors

Calcutta: Laxmi Ratan Shukla has an uncanny habit of proving his detractors wrong whenever pushed into a corner. For him, performance remains the last word.

A day after being ignored by the East Zone selection committee for the Deodhar Trophy, he chose to send them a stern message with a sterling show in the Vijay Hazare final against Mumbai at the Kotla.

There was no way the selectors could have kept him out of the squad now, and after hectic parleys, he was included as the 17th member.

The selection panel, headed by national selector Raja Venkat, made it clear that Shukla had been dropped because of disciplinary issues. It, however, didn’t go down well with the CAB officials.

“How can the selection committee decide on disciplinary issues? They can only dwell on selection matters and such issues have to be left to the disciplinary committee or the officials of the concerned association. The selectors have no right to exceed their brief,” said a top CAB official.

Citing a past instance, he said: “Shukla and Ashok Dinda had been initially dropped in 2010 on similar grounds. But intervention by CAB joint secretary Biswarup Dey had led to both being included later.”

Shukla wasn’t too keen to play after the initial neglect, but requests from Dey and CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya ultimately forced him to change his mind. Venkat, however, declined to comment on the issue. The selectors were apparently unhappy with Shukla for not travelling with the East squad on two previous occasions.

“On the first occasion, I was injured and on the second, I had a very private ceremony at home which I couldn’t have avoided. I’ve never breached discipline,” Shukla said in New Delhi Monday.

Bengal chief selector Deep Dasgupta did try to defend Shukla at the meeting and requested that the all-rounder be given another chance, but the others didn’t want to budge.

The Vijay Hazare Trophy has been a way of reinventing himself for the former Bengal captain.

After a not so successful Ranji Trophy campaign, he chose to give it all in the shorter version of the game. The all-rounder scored 291 runs in seven matches, including two centuries, besides taking 11 wickets.

Depleted EB take on Arrows

Calcutta: A depleted Kingfisher East Bengal side will have their task cut out when they take on a resurgent Pailan Arrows in the IFA Shield semi-final at the Salt Lake Stadium, on Tuesday.

The red and gold brigade will be without strikers Tolgay Ozebe and Robin Singh, while midfielder Sushant Mathew and defenders Robert Lalthlamuana, Naoba Singh and Saikat Saha Roy are unfit. Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is also likely to miss the action because of personal issues.

To make matters worse, Mehtab Hossain is ruled with a groin injury and several players are busy doing national duty.

Coach Trevor James Morgan, however, sounded optimistic about his team’s chances on the eve of their semi-final.

“Injuries are part and parcel of the game. We cannot do anything about it ,” Morgan said.

Tolgay,, who is nursing a a calf-muscle injury, is likely to be out for two weeks . The Australian recruit, however, said that he might play a part in the game if needed. That Sushant and Saikat may still play, underlines the sticky situation Morgan finds himself in.

East Bengal are likely to start with strikers Baljit Sahni and Seiminlen Doungel. Sanju Pradhan, Penn Orji and Khantang Paite will man the midfield while Sushant Mathew will operate down the left-wing.

IN THE CITY

Big victory for Taltala

Sanchayan Chatterjee scored a brisk unbeaten 46 off 29 balls, while Saikat Das bagged four wickets as Taltala Institute defeated Kidderpore Sporting Club by 78 runs in a Junior Knockout match, on Monday. Batting first, Taltala scored 212 for eight in 45 overs and then bundled out Kidderpore for 134.

Summarised scores

Junior Knockout Tournament: Taltala Institute 212/8 in 45 overs (Sanchayan Chatterjee 46 not out, Gourav Goel 33). Kidderpore Sporting Club 134 in 38.4 overs (Arindam Hazra 34, Saikat Das 4/11). Taltala won by 78 runs.

Senior Knockout Tournament: Dalhousie Athletic Club 188 in 41.2 overs (Olive Chandra 85, Prakhar Ravi 3/29, Anirban Gupta 3/33). BNR 141 in 38 overs (Subhradeep Sinha 4/25, Chatu Sarkar 3/20). Dalhousie won by 47 runs.

Bengal aim to break jinx – Mumbai cautious against Sourav Ganguly’s men

New Delhi: Sourav Ganguly was a hugely motivated man on the eve of Monday’s Vijay Hazare Trophy final against Mumbai at the Kotla.

Though Sunday was a day of optional practice for the players, the Bengal skipper, along with seven other teammates, arrived for nets in the afternoon and toiled hard for 90 minutes under the scorching sun.

He also passed on some batting tips to two youngsters, Anustup Majumdar and Sreevats Goswami.

“We are going to break the jinx tomorrow,” said Sourav after practice. “We have some good young cricketers, who have been doing very well this season,” he said.

There are reasons for Sourav to talk about breaking the jinx. Bengal reached the Vijay Hazare final thrice earlier, but have never managed to win the trophy. They lost to Saurashtra in 2008 and thereafter twice succumbed to Tamil Nadu in the title-round.

However, given the way Bengal have played in the tournament so far, they can surely hope to return triumphant. Not only have they won six matches on the trot, they overcame Madhya Pradesh and Punjab on a difficult Palam track in the knockout phase.

Bengal’s all-round performance has also been very impressive. However, Manoj Tiwary and Ashok Dinda’s absence — who joined the national side for the Asia Cup before the semi-final — will be sorely felt.

While wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha has batted like a champion, Sourav Sarkar came up with a fine bowling performance against Punjab.

Also, in good form are Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Anustup Majumdar, though both could not achieve much success in the semi-final.

The final, though, will be a test of nerves for the youngsters. The bowling, in the absence of Dinda will be tested to the hilt. The batting will largely depend on Sourav Ganguly and Wriddhiman.

It will be interesting to see how the young Bengal bowlers perform against the likes of Wasim Jaffer and Ajinka Rahane. Shami Ahmed has achieved considerable success during East’s triumphant Duleep Trophy campaign but has to show consistency.

It is still not clear whether Bengal will play Sourav Sarkar or include Sanjib Sanyal, who bowled decently in the zonal qualifiers in Calcutta.

The toss has proved to be a crucial factor in a few matches at the Kotla, but Sourav felt that would have little significance. “Agreed that the toss has been a factor in a couple of earlier matches but yesterday (Saturday) Mumbai scored nearly 300. I will only have a look at the pitch tomorrow (Monday) morning.”

Mumbai are considered to be the most dominant force in domestic cricket. The winners of 39 Ranji Trophy titles, Mumbai are a strong side and won both their knockout matches at the Kotla by big margins against Karnataka and hosts Delhi.

Mumbai opener Jaffer has been in fine form and scored 68 not out and 92 against Karnataka and Delhi, respectively, in the last two matches.

While other opener Rahane has also been among runs, middle-order batsman Abhishek Nayar came up with a well-struck 72 in 61 balls against Delhi in the semi-final.

On the Kotla track where other teams found it difficult to get past 200 when batting first, Mumbai scored 295, which showed that as a domestic side they are a class apart from the rest of the pack.

Mumbai captain Ajit Agarkar, however, was cautious about Monday’s final. “No doubt we played very well in the last two matches but things can always change. Bengal are a good, youthful side… You have to be careful,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jayojit Basu, who rushed to Calcutta on Saturday to attend his father’s last rites, rejoined the team Sunday evening.

TEAMS

Bengal (likely): Jayojit Basu, Sreevats Goswami, Sourav Ganguly, Anustup Majumdar, Wriddhiman Saha, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Debabrata Das, Arnab Nandy, Sourav Sarkar, Shami Ahmed, Iresh Saxena.

Mumbai (from): Ajit Agarkar (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Wasim Jaffer, Suryakumar Yadav, Anup Revandkar, Abhishek Nayar, Sushant Marathe, Aditya Tare, Iqbal Abdulla, Ankit Chavan, Dhaval Kulkarni, Kshemal Waingankar, Javed Khan, Shoaib Shaikh, Gaurav Jathar and Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr).

Umpires: K. Srinath and Subrata Das.

Match Referee: Chinmaya Sharma.

Match starts: 9 am.

IN THE CITY

Shambazar triumph

An all-round performance by Kamal Hasan Mondal helped Shambazar defeat Bhukailash SC by 261 runs in a CAB 1st Division Playoff Championship match, on Sunday.

Bhukailash were bowled out for 166 in response to Shambazar’s 427 for five. Kamal Hasan Mondal scalped five for 39 after scoring an unbeaten 154.

Summarised scores

Shambazar 427/5 (Kamal Hasan Mondal 154 not out, Abhishek Raman 53 not out). Bhukailash SC 166 (Manoj Shaw 91, Kamal Hasan Mondal 5/39, Monojit Ghosh 3/30). Shambazar won by 261 runs

Mohammedan Sporting 294/9 (Gourav Kumar 3/59). BNR 297/9 (Debabrata Pal 64 not out, Shamshad Hossain 5/109). BNR won by one wicket

Tapan Memorial 413. YMCA 294 (Sanjay Singh 69, Pradip Parasar 5/64, Sumitra Majumdar 3/56). Tapan Memorial won by 119 runs

WB Police SC 213. Police AC 217/4 (Sohom Choudhury 76 not out, Kingshuk Das 54 not out, Debabrata Dutta 3/80). Police AC won by six wickets

EB need a draw

Calcutta: Nothing seems to be going Kingfisher East Bengal’s way. What with inept refereeing, a maddening schedule and their strikers being out of form, the red and gold brigade have struggled to find their feet in the last two outings.

While they stuttered to a 2-1 win in the IFA Shield opener against Bhowanipore, they succumbed to an unfortunate 0-1 loss to Yemeni club Al-Orouba in the opening match of the AFC Cup.

With Bhowanipore thrashing Lajong FC in the other match of the IFA Shield, East Bengal now need at least a draw against the north-east side to qualify for the next round.

EB would have to do so without Harmanjyot Singh Khabra, who picked up an injury in the AFC Cup match, on Tuesday. Khabra may be replaced by Saikat Saha Roy. It was learnt that Alvito D’Cunha may get some playing time after being on the bench for the last two matches.

Coach Trevor James Morgan was apparently miffed since he was not informed that Friday’s match against Lajong was deferred by a day. He came to know of the postponement only after he arrived for practice at the East Bengal Ground at 7 am, on Thursday.

A counsellor spoke to the team at the training session on Friday morning to help bring about some change in their approach to the game.

IN THE CITY

Telegraph Cup

The Telegraph ‘B’ beat Times of India by five wickets in the CC&FC Telegraph Cup six-a-side invitational match, on Friday. In another match, Mcnally Bharat scored a victory over Reliance Mutual.

Results

Main Plate: HSBC EDP bt L&T Insurance; ICICI ‘B’ bt The Telegraph ‘A’

Bowl Plate: The Telegraph ‘B’ bt The Times Of India; Mcnally Bharat bt Reliance Mutual

Loser Plate: Vodafone bt Uninor; Godfrey Philips bt Birla Tyres

Tennis meet

Cognizant beat Shristi 2-0 in a merchant’s Cup quarter final Gold plate tennis match, on Friday.

Results

Quantam BUSS bt Baljit Group; CESC ‘A’ bt Selvel; CESC ‘B’ bt M. N. Dastur

Quarter final: Silver Plate Match: Future Generali bt KCT Group

TODAY IN SPORT

Football: IFA Shield: East Bengal vs Lajong FC (Salt Lake Stadium); Botafogo vs United Kerala SC (Howrah Stadium). Both matches from 3 pm.