Sunil Gavaskar urges CSA to follow Eden Gardens model of covering entire ground during rain

NEW DELHI: Legendary Sunil Gavaskar urged Cricket South Africa (CSA) to take a leaf out of Eden Gardens' book after rain forced the abandonment of the first T20I between India and South Africa at Durban without a ball being bowled.

Gavaskar said the South African board should follow the Eden method of covering the whole perimeter of the ground during the rain to minimise the damage.

“What the boards need to do now is to cover the entire ground. Let's have no excuse. Everybody (cricket boards) is getting a lot of money. Let's make no mistake.

“All the cricket boards have got plenty of money. If they say they don't, they are lying,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“They might not have as much money as the BCCI. Fair enough. But every board has got money to buy these covers to cover the entire ground,” Gavaskar said.

Kolkata's Eden Gardens is currently the only stadium in the country to have the facility to cover the whole ground in the event of rain, an initiative taken by Sourav Ganguly when he was at the helm of the Cricket Association of Bengal.

The former Indian captain then pointed at the 2019 World Cup in England where four matches were washed out.

“So many World Cup matches in England did not take place because the ground was not covered. The rain had stopped, but the rest of the ground was, you know, wet. So, a lot of teams lost points.

“South Africa, I remember that they wanted to play against some team and the match didn't take place or something had happened, mainly because the outfield was wet,” Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar then lauded the vision of Ganguly in making Eden Gardens a rain-safe venue.

“I think there was one Test match at Eden Gardens called off. During the next game, Eden Gardens had the entire ground covered. That is the kind of initiative that you want to have.

“Sourav Ganguly was the man in charge and he made sure that nobody could point the finger at Eden Gardens,” Gavaskar recalled.

“If the ground remains uncovered and the rain stops, you know it doesn't start for another one hour. Suddenly if it rains again, there's no play whatsoever,” he added.