Stormy Eden Gardens ready for IPL playoffs

Kolkata: The storm Nor’wester on Saturday made the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) officials nervy. Thankfully, damage was restricted to the front window of the Eden Gardens press box giving in to a 90km per hour storm. A quick repair job has fixed the damage. And Sujan Mukherjee’s presence of mind kept the pitch and outfield safe.

The Eden curator acted in advance. “As dark clouds gathered, we covered the pitch and outfield and put large stone chunks on the cover, heavy enough to withstand the gust. It did the trick,” Mukherjee told The Indian Express.

A day before the Indian Premier League Qualifier 1 between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals, both pitch and outfield looked first-class. Mukherjee spoke about how the surface would assist everyone: “Batsmen will be able to play on the up, fast bowlers will get purchase upfront and spinners will come into play later. There will be good bounce.” The curator has stuck to his template of preparing sporting pitches. Over the last seven years under his charge, the Eden surface has hardly ever proved to be a letdown.

Around 5.15 pm on Monday, the Royals team bus hauled up in front of Eden. The Titans coach came a few minutes later. Fans in front of the stadium, oblivious to the identity of the team members, started chanting, ‘RCB, RCB’. A Kohli ditty followed. Around that time, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s flight was landing in Kolkata. Going by the reaction, the Eliminator on Wednesday is going to be box office, Virat Kohli offering stardust. But make no mistake, it will be a full house for Qualifier 1 on Tuesday also, with the authorities allowing 100 per cent turnout. The IPL needed this change of scenery. Monotony was creeping in towards the end of the group phase. Familiarity, to an extent, had started to breed contempt.

Both teams boast of quality fast bowlers. Titans have Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph and Lockie Ferguson. The Eden pitch should excite them to bend their backs. The Royals’ counter is Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Sen (if he plays). As for batting, the Titans would like to see consistency from Shubman Gill, while three successive single-digit scores notwithstanding, Jos Buttler remains Royals’ talisman with 629 runs from 14 matches. As regards spin, Royals hold a slight edge with the Chahal-Ashwin combo versus Rashid Khan. Wriddhiman Saha playing on home patch, with relationship strained with the CAB, offers an interesting sub-plot.