Eden Gardens, the most famous ground in India, will finally join the World Cup bandwagon on Tuesday but it will be with a snub from its famous fans as it hosts the Group B match between South Africa and Ireland. The biggest Indian ground was dropped by organisers as the venue of the high-profile India v England World Cup match on February 27 due to delays in renovation work. Instead the thrilling tied match was held in Bangalore.
The Kolkata ground has been left to stage three other matches, none of which feature the home side, and organisers are struggling to ensure a decent turnout for them. Around 120,000 people screaming at the top of their voices make Eden Gardens, which hosted the 1987 World Cup final, one of the most atmospheric cricket grounds in the world. Despite the missing attraction of the home team to draw in the usual capacity crowd, both South Africa and Ireland are eagerly anticipating playing at India's most famous stadium with or without a good turnout.
"Coming to India, you always hear about Eden Gardens as one of the big grounds, like going to England and playing at Lord's," Ireland captain William Porterfield told reporters. The renovated stadium has had a facelift with bucket seats replacing the concrete blocks on which fans previously sat, but it has roughly halved the stadium's capacity to 60,000.
On Monday only 237 tickets were sold from the counters on the eve of the match though the local organisers still hope to bring in about 30,000 spectators - largely comprising of complimentary tickets. South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl was still enthusiastic to play at the venue where the team made their return to international cricket in 1991 after an end to the apartheid regime in their country. Eden Gardens was built in the mid-1860s during British rule in India and staged its first test match in 1934 when England toured. The game was drawn.
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