Eden fiasco: Pranab Mukherjee to talk to Sharad Pawar

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will 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 the international cricket governing body took away on the ground of slipshod preparations.

“I do not understand much about the game, but I will talk to Sharad Pawar,” Mukherjee said here, informing that Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya had earlier met him in this regard.

He said the problems, however, would have to be resolved by the cricket bodies themselves.

Earlier reports said, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also spoke to Pawar on the issue.

International Cricket Council (ICC) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that the world body will make a final decision on Sunday whether the Eden Gardens will get a chance to host the important World Cup match between India and England.

Pawar said he would get a report on the stadium’s preparedness from ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat on Saturday and then a final decision would be taken.

“I will get the report this evening. After that, an ICC Committee will deliberate on whether Eden will host the matches or not,” Pawar said.

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.