Ler Sunil Gavaskar claimed that may
not have as much money as BCCI. This comes from the mouth of Gavaskar over washed out IND vs SA 1st T20I
Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at Cricket South Africa (CSA) after the 1st T20I between South Africa and India was washed out by rain in Durban on Sunday.
After recording an impressive 4-1 win over Australia, Suryakumar Yadav’s Team India arrived at the Kingsmead Stadium for the first encounter of their multi-format tour to South Africa.
Ironically, a tour that promised to be a lifesaver for Cricket South Africa (CSA), kicked off with the first match abandoned without a ball being bowled at Kingsmead.
Gavaskar showed no mercy to Cricket South Africa. Predominantly from TV rights, CSA is expected to earn more than a billion rand ($53 million) with India touring the rainbow nation.
Pholetsi Moseki, chief executive of CSA had asserted that the India series will ‘obviously help’ the Proteas board in balancing the books.
However, the rain gods at Durban had other plans as they
provided India with a rainy start to their South Africa tour which miffed the batting legend Gavaskar at CSA’s preparations for the series opener.
Gavaskar continued that while they may not have as much money as the BCCI’ launched an on-air attack on the CSA for not covering the entire cricket field when rain greeted the venue prior to the traditional coin toss.
Had the ground remained uncovered and the rain stopped it doesn’t start for another one hour. Suddenly it rains again. So there’s no play whatsoever.
Everybody (cricket boards) are minting money. Let’s make no mistake. All the cricket boards have got plenty of money. If they decline, they are lying. They might not have as much money as the BCCI. Fair enough. But every board has got money to buy these covers to cover the entire ground.
Gavaskar recalled what happened in 2019 World Cup
and how the notorious weather in England left everyone frustrated. It was a witness to the highest number of abandoned or no-result games due to rain in a single edition of the competition.
Sri Lanka’s two World Cup 2019 matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh were abandoned without the toss due to rain. South Africa’s clash with the West Indies had no result at the England and Wales World Cup.
Gavaskar also recalled the World Cup nightmare- how
India’s crucial match against New Zealand was also washed out in Nottingham.
The semi-final meet amidst India and New Zealand turned out to be a rain-marred encounter in Manchester.
So many World Cup matches in England did not take place because the ground was not covered. The rain had stopped, but the rest of the ground wet. Lot of teams lost points. South Africa, he remembered wanted to play against some team and the match didn’t take place or something had happened, mainly because the outfield was wet.
Gavaskar also gave a special mention to former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly. As of May 2023, Kolkata’s Eden Garden is the only stadium in India to have a fully covered rain management system. What the boards need to do now is to cover the entire ground. Let’s have no excuse.
He remembers that there was one Test match at Eden Gardens called where there was some problem at the game didn’t start. Next game, Eden Gardens had the entire ground covered. That is the kind of initiative that you want to have. Sourav Ganguly was the man in charge and he made sure that nobody could point the finger at Eden Gardens.
News Edit K.V.Raman
