For cricket-starved sports fans in Kolkata who are dying to catch some action at the hallowed Eden Gardens, there's finally some good news.
Come November, Eden may get to host an India versus Sri Lanka Test match. The Sri Lankans will be touring India for three Test matches and five One-Day Internationals (ODIs) in November, and the BCCI is apparently mulling over allotting a Test match to Eden Gardens.
The last time Kolkata hosted an international cricket match was way back in 2007 November-end, when India and Pakistan played out a tame draw in which city icon Sourav Ganguly stood out with his maiden Test century at his home ground.
Ever since that match, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has somehow been off the radar for the BCCI when it came to international fixtures.
However, after CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya admittedly sent out repeated requests to the Board to allot an international tie at Eden, the BCCI seems to have finally thinking over handing out one of the India-lanka Test matches to Kolkata.
Speaking to The Indian Express on Tuesday, a senior CAB functionary said: "If things go according to our wishes, then we may get to host a Test match this November. It's been a very long time since Eden hosted an international match. People in Kolkata have nearly forgotten the last time they sat through an international match here."
Problems with Eden missing out on international fixtures began way back in early 2007 when the previous CAB administration misread the loopholes in the Board's renewed rotation policy and agreed to be featured at the bottom of the new priority list of venues.
The new rotation policy that was drawn up just a week or so after an India-Sri Lanka one-dayer at Eden Gardens was washed out.
The new system placed Eden right at the bottom at No 22, as a result of which the CAB has been made to wait for over one-and-a-half years now for the next big tie.
In between, the CAB hosted just the one India-Pakistan Test match in November 2007.
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