Eden fumes over Wankhede power failure

Citing the failure of one of the light towers at the Wankhede Stadium during Friday's match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) yesterday slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for its "dual" standards

Eden fumes over Wankhede power failure

During the Group 'A' match at Wankhede, which underwent complete renovation and was declared fit just in time for the World Cup, there was a power failure in one of the four floodlight towers during the latter part of the match. However, play continued uninterrupted and power was restored within 10 minutes. "This is an absolutely dual role play by the ICC. They have different rules for different venues," CAB Joint Secretary Biswarup Dey told MiD DAY.

Chitrak Mitra, CAB's stadium in-charge, was even more vocal. "Why didn't the ICC do anything regarding what happened at Wankhede? They remained silent because that venue (Wankhede) belongs to the ICC President's (Sharad Pawar's) home association. That's why they didn't take any strong action against the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA)," Mitra told MiD DAY yesterday. Before the tournament, the ICC stadium review committee told us that there must be uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to all the light towers. This was mandatory. What happened to Wankhede?"

Needless to say, the shifting of India-England match, on February 27, from Eden Gardens to Bangalore still haunts CAB officials.

"They (ICC) could have easily organised the India-England match at our venue, but they didn't. We don't know what was the problem. If rules have to be strictly followed, then why Wankhede is going scot-free," Dey said.

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