Low ticket sales worries CAB
Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta
Unusually low interest levels -- as reflected in the dismal sale of tickets for the forthcoming India-Australia Test at the Eden Gardens --has the Cricket Association of Bengal mandarins worried.
CAB general secretary Debdas Banerjee told this correspondent that even clubs affiliated to the CAB hadn't exactly been quick off the blocks when it came to buying up their allotted quotas of tickets.
“There is genuine need to worry, considering the fact that this time the number of spectators have been curtailed to 70,000 -- down 50,000 -- in view of the violence that has marred international fixtures on two occasions in the past. That makes it all the more important for us to have a full house and, therefore, the lack of response is a disappointment for all of us," Banerjee said.
Contrary to what one is used to seeing outside the Eden Gardens before international fixutres, this time the ticket counters are deserted, with just the odd buyer ambling up to one of the ticket counters. That raises eyebrows, given that the Gardens routinely boasts of 100,000-strong crowds for any international fixture, let alone one involving the world champions against a home team led by local hero Saurav Ganguly.
Meanwhile, the CAB has another area of concern to address -- the Gardens' growing reputation for violence. Large scale violence had first broken out during the semifinal of the 1996 World Cup, against Sri Lanka, leading to the match referee, Clive Lloyd, awarding the game to the visitors. Again, during the 1999 Asian Test Championship tie against Pakistan, crowd violence forced the organisers to clear the stadium and the game was finished to near-empty stands. Jagmohan Dalmiya, head of the CAB, had in fact recently remarked that the ICC was on the verge of banning the ground, and it was only his personal intervention, as the then chairman of the ICC, that stalled that threat.
In a bid to forestall similar problems, CAB officials said, the local police have put in place unprecedented security measures for the Test beginning March 11. No one -- not even VIPs, and media persons -- will thus be allowed into the venue with extensive frisking.
Further, policemen both in uniform and out of it will mingle with the crowds in all the stands, in order to damp down unruly spirits.
“The idea behind reducing the number of spectators is primarily to enable law enforcing agencies to keep a more effective watch. Besides, no one entering the stadium will be allowed to carry water bottle, or anything else that could subsequently be used as a missle," a CAB official said.
As if these problems were not enough to turn the organisers' hair grey, there is the possibility -- a very real one, in Calcutta at this time of the year -- of sudden, heavy, downpours.
Organisers told rediff.com that emergency measures had been initiated to tackle any such downpours. Two manual, and one automatic, super soaker has been kept in readiness. Pumps have also been installed across the ground to ensure swift drainage.
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