Keeping in mind Sachin Tendulkar's request about sightscreens, officials of the Eden Gardens stadium here are hurrying to increase the height of the structures.
Officials of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), which is responsible for the maintenance of the stadium, have increased the height of one the two sightscreens by adding more white cloth to the structure.
The position of the sightscreen on the other end of the stadium is creating a problem as increasing its height would mean covering the sight of spectators in the rows just above the structure. The match organisers were trying to find a solution to the problem.
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Tendulkar has written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) urging it to consider increasing the height of sightscreens to ensure against distraction of batsmen by movement of spectators behind the structures.
According to ICC's specifications, each sightscreen should be a t least 40 feet wide and 15 feet in height.
In the Mohali Test, spectators' movement behind the sightscreens repeatedly distracted the master batsman, though he did not attribute his dismissal on 94 runs to a lapse in concentration.
Tendulkar told reporters that, at times, it became difficult for batsmen of small height like him to play very tall bowlers.
"We don't want to take any chance. We want him to get to all his personal milestones at the Eden Gardens so that it remains memorable for us," said a senior CAB official.
Tendulkar needs one more century to break Sunil Gavaskar's record number of thirty-four Test 100s. Also, he is less than 30 runs away from joining the club of 10,000 Test run makers.
The CAB official said they were not under any instruction from either the ICC or the Indian cricket board to increase the height of the sightscreens.
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