Eden Gardens may not host day-nighters in IPL 3

The Eden Gardens may not host day-night matches in the third edition of the IPL, after a floodlight glitch held up play in the fourth ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Kolkata. Sri Lanka were 307 for 6 in 49.2 overs batting first, when the floodlight tower at the High Court end went off, halting play for 26 minutes.

Embarrassingly, the same venue had been plunged into darkness when Kolkata Knight Riders played Deccan Chargers during the inaugural IPL in April last year. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, said a technical snag had caused the floodlights to go off.

"It is a worry. We are yet to identify the problem area but we need to do that very quickly," Dalmiya said. "Since 1993, the ODI matches are being held under lights but only in the last couple of years have we been hit by technical snags."

Dalmiya said that it was unacceptable that the lights should go out for even five minutes. He informed a seven-member committee had been set up, and a decision would be taken after the panel submitted its report.

Among the other reasons was the theory that there had been a "voltage fluctuation". However, a spokesman of the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) said that it was not their fault and the power supply was uninterrupted.

"There was no problem on our end," he said. "The power supply was not disrupted even for a second. The bulbs in the tower developed a snag and it is a maintenance problem."

More recently, an ICC team inspecting the venues for the 2011 World Cup, had made the following observation about Eden Gardens. "The time to switch between power sources needs to be checked to ensure that it is immediate so that in the event of failure of the primary source there is no interruption to light. The light levels need to be checked to ensure they meet standards."

The venue is scheduled to host four matches in the tournament beginning in February 2011.