India vs England 2016/17: Newly-Laid Surface At Eden Gardens To Offer Pace And Bounce
Jan 21, 2017 at 1:43 PM
The ground staff at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata believes that the newly-laid soil on the 22-yard surface and Bermuda grass will have a lot on offer for the fast bowlers as there is a fair amount of the greenery settled on the track.
Although, last week’s chill is missing and the day temperature has risen substantially over the last few days in the eastern part of the country, dew is still expected to have a significant impact in the second innings.
“It will be hard and generate good bounce,” the ground staff was quoted as saying by Times of India.
In the recent past encounters at the historic venue, the ball has kept low while batters hadve enjoyed the better part of the game.
The last match of the One-Day International series is expected to be a low scoring day-night affair on Sunday between England and India as the ground staff has worked hard to prepare the fresh surface.
According to a report, the stadium is undergoing a renovation process since November 2015 and will be completed the next month.
“There will be something for both, batsmen as well as bowlers,” the groundsman said.
After both England and India witnessed run feast in first two ODIs at Pune and Cuttack respectively, the visitors would like to salvage some pride in the dead rubber and Virat Kohli led-side would push for a 3-0 victory.
Opener Alex Hales has been ruled out of the series after suffering a hand injury. He’ll be replaced by the wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow for the upcoming T20I series.
On Friday, India opener Shikhar Dhawan visited a hospital for a routine check-up after complaining about pain in his left thumb. Dhawan had injured his thumb while batting against New Zealand in October last year at the same venue.
The stadium hosted the recently concluded Ranji Trophy season game between Delhi and Karnataka, which saw Delhi getting bundled out for 90 and 160 in their two innings, but Karnataka scored 414.