Former Indian cricketers Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir talk about the unpredictable weather in England as well as ICC's preparations to counter it
Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Gambhir
When asked whether the preparation for a prestigious tournament like the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 was on track, especially with the unpredictable weather in England, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said, "The covers that are used in India, at the Eden Gardens are from England and using them here (in England) would have meant spending half the cost and it is also tax-free, so they should have used those here anyway."
Ganguly continued, "In India we use these covers for all matches, so that when the rain stops the match can resume within 10 minutes. They are very light covers, it’s not difficult to lift it, you don’t need too much manpower. The blue covers that were used earlier in India, used to take more than 10 times the time and people in comparison to now. The covers that are in Eden Gardens and in Lords are translucent covers, so light goes past it. This way the grass won’t dry up nor will the colour change from green to brown, if you use them to cover the outfield. For such important matches, and in a tournament like the World Cup - especially in a country like England where the rains are so frequent, having these covers are very important, especially on the outfield as well.
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Talking about Nottingham, Ganguly said, "Today’s case is different, the match was called off not only because of the rain today – but it has been raining continuously for the past three days. The two reasons for the delay were firstly, the wet pitch and secondly, something that the viewers on screen can’t see is how dark the ground is, the match can’t begin in such a dark setting."
Former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir also commented on the lack of preparation from the ICC side. Gambhir said, "The ICC can do a lot better. The rains have stopped since the past 2-3 hours despite which the match hasn't started. Furthermore, the rains were anticipated since the past 3 days so what could be done is the ground should have been covered since the beginning so as to avoid the match delay due to the wet outfield. If this match would've been affected due to other reasons such as bad floodlights, it would've been understandable but that’s not the case. The ICC needs to look into this because this is a global tournament, for an event of such stature, it is highly disappointing for the spectators and viewers to keep waiting for hours."
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