Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar fumed at Cricket South Africa (CSA) after IND vs SA 1st T20I was called off due to persistent rain in Durban. Gavaskar said that the entire ground should have been covered to have a chance of some play. He suggested that if the ground is not fully covered then it makes a difference of about an hour for the proceedings to start.
“If the ground remains uncovered and the rain stops, you know it doesn’t start for another one hour. Suddenly it rains again. So there’s no play whatsoever. Everybody (cricket boards) is getting a lot of money. Let’s make no mistake. All the cricket boards have got plenty of money. If they say they don’t, 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 said on Star Sports.
Gavaskar gave an example of the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata and said that the world needed to learn from the initiatives that Eden took under the leadership of veteran Sourav Ganguly.
“What the boards need to do now is to cover the entire ground. Let’s have no excuse. I remember I think 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 of. 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,” Sunil Gavaskar further added
Gavaskar also gave an example of the 2019 World Cup and said that several teams got affected as the match could not start on time in England. “So many World Cup matches in England (2019) did not take place because the ground was not covered. The rain had stopped, but the rest of the ground was, you know, wet. So a lot of teams lost points. South Africa. I remember that they wanted to play against some team and the match didn’t take place or something had happened, mainly because the outfield was wet,” Gavaskar added.
Suryakumar Yadav and Co. will look to start the series with a bang. However, South Africa also has a dominating line-up ready. Aiden Markam and his side will try to give a tough outing to the visitors on Tuesday. Speaking about the second match, there are atleast 25% chances of rain during the IND vs SA 2nd T20 at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha.
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