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India’s failure is Eden’s gain

For angry cricket fans in Kolkata, it’s not all over yet, after India ignominiously exited from World Cup.

That’s because, with the national team slated to return to the country in another two days’ time, the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Mahender Singh Dhoni could be seen brandishing their bats at the Eden Gardens this April in the forthcoming Twenty20 tournament.

As part of the BCCI’s inaugural national Twenty20 championship, the matches of the East Zone leg will be played in Kolkata from April 3 to 8. And with the Indian team players available for play during that period of time, east zone sides Bengal and Jharkhand have already decided to approach the twosome respectively — Ganguly and Dhoni — to take part in the slam-bang run fest.

Speaking to Newsline this evening, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint-secretary Saradindu Pal said: “It’s too early for us to know whether Sourav will play. I believe the Indian team will take another two days to return to the country. As soon as Sourav returns to the city, we will ask him if he can make himself available for the Twenty20 tournament. I hope if Sourav plays, there will be a good crowd turnout for Bengal’s matches in the tournament.”

Although confirmation didn’t come from Dhoni’s front too, it was learnt that both the CAB and the Jharkhand cricket administrators are hopeful of their heavyweight players taking to the field for the Twenty20 event.

Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tripura and Assam are the five east zone sides that will vie for the top slot in the week-long zonal leg of the National Twenty20 Championship. The league matches will be played on a round-robin basis, with the top two teams advancing to the final knock-out round to be played in Mumbai later this month.

Ganguly and Dhoni’s availability has come has a massive windfall for the CAB, which was till recently worried that low turnouts will ruin the April 3-8 tournament. Although the Indian cricket Board has promised to pay the state association Rs 15,000 as expenses for hosting each match, the CAB is keeping its fingers crossed, waiting for the thumbs up from crowd-pullers Ganguly and Dhoni.

The week-long fest will see two matches being played everyday, with hosts Bengal taking on Assam in the opening match on April 3.

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