The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday confirmed its decision to relocate the venue for the India v England match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, which had been originally scheduled for Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 27 February.
It will now take place in Bengaluru on the same date.
In a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday, the ICC outlined a schedule of works that needed to be carried out at Eden Gardens ahead of the ground?s other scheduled fixtures on 15, 18 and 20 March.
As such, an inspection team will visit Kolkata again on 7 February to assess progress in line with that schedule.
Meanwhile, the BCCI has responded to the ICC nominating Bengaluru as its preferred alternate venue for the India v England match, a recommendation the ICC agrees to.
ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said: ?This decision now clarifies and gives us certainty over the fixture. We can now work with our various partners and stakeholders to make sure that match ? along with the rest of the tournament ? is all it should be.?
On Sunday, ICC president Sharad Pawar said the decision of ICC was not to play a single match in Kolkata, but he had requested the body to consider it.
He said at least the other three matches of World Cup (not featuring India) can be held and Kolkatans can enjoy them if the Bengal cricket administration completes the arrangements.
A blame game immediately started after the news spread with the detractors of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya holding him responsible for the fiasco.
“This was expected. The world has changed, but things have not changed here. The unprofessional attitude led to the fiasco,” said former cricketer Sambaran Banerjee.
Samar Pal, a cricket administrator of Bengal from the anti-Jagmohan Dalmiya camp, said it was most frustrating.
The Kolkatans were angry and demoralised.
“I am mourning. It is a shame for Bengal. It can be a conspiracy but then the cricket administrators here are no less responsible,” said cricket fan Shymal Das.
Hours before the ICC shocker came, Dalmiya said he was still hopeful of a change of heart in the ICC to return Eden Gardens the Feb 27 India-England World Cup match, taken away for “sluggish” stadium preparations.
“I am still hopeful. But I cannot say anything about the ultimate outcome,” said Dalmiya at a press conference.
West Bengal PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami earlier in the day said his department can get everything ready by Feb 5 and also can try to meet the pointers of ICC if they were told.
“Things have change now. Today, value is different,” Dalmiya said, exercising caution on what he remarks about ICC or their decision, but a firm no was the final answer.
“Today we are blamed. But are we really to be blamed,” Dalmiya asked.
To a question on where Kolkata was discriminated even in allotting matches at the first place, he said the fixture of the Cup and match allotment are issues different from the ongoing controversy.
Minister Kshiti Goswami said there is no city in the world with such a sports-friendly crowd like Kolkata though the city might not be commercially as viable as some other Indian metros.
“Spectators are our asset though Kolkata is still not considered a very commercial city,” he said.
Earlier, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had offered to talk to ICC president and his cabinet colleague Sharad Pawar on the possibility of providing the cricket authorities in Kolkata a second chance to prepare Eden Gardens for the World Cup match.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also spoke to Pawar on the issue.
The India-England clash was to be the only match featuring the co-hosts in Kolkata and the other scheduled clashes mostly feature minnows.
South Africa-Ireland (March 15), Netherlands-Ireland (March 18) and Zimbabwe-Kenya (March 20) are the other games scheduled at the venue.