Ganguly confident of Eden Gardens drainage

Sourav Ganguly, the secretary of the Cricket of Association of Bengal (CAB), has brushed aside all criticism generated by the washout of the third T20I between India on South Africa on Thursday at Eden Gardens. Question marks over the ground's drainage facilities, which have been raised in the past, resurfaced once the umpires, after frequent inspections, decided to abandon the match due to the wet outfield.

However, Ganguly, who is the CAB's president-in-waiting after the death of Jagmohan Dalmiya, said he was surprised by the alarm raised by critics, and made it clear that everything was fine with the iconic ground. He also insisted that Eden Gardens would be fit to host the World Twenty20 final, on April 3 next year.

"There is no issue at all," Ganguly told ESPNcricinfo. "We should have done a better job yesterday in terms of the covering the outfield, which we'll take care of. But in terms of the drainage and as far as the ground facilities are concerned, there is no problem at all."

The start of Thursday's T20I was delayed after the ground authorities failed to clear the puddles in the outfield caused by a 30-minute downpour in the afternoon. What intrigued everyone was the rain had come down at about 1 PM, almost five hours before the match. Despite frantic mopping up activity, the umpires remained uncertain and abandoned the game after a few inspections.

Ganguly, though, remained defiant on the ground's prospects, reminding that Eden Gardens had successfully hosted big matches for a long time and would continue to do so without any hurdles.

"We hosted the IPL final also this season with a 70,000 capacity which was as big as any. When you have cricket matches over 25 years there would be one or two matches that would be washed away especially when monsoon drags along to September and October in Kolkata.

"Are there not other venues around the world that have been washed out due to rain? There have been days where games have been washed out at Lord's also, Melbourne also, Cape Town also."