Former India captain Sourav Ganguly was involved in a scary mishap when he was riding in a 29 years old club house lift of the Eden Gardens. The lift malfunctioned and Ganguly had to be pulled out using a stool but fortunately everything was fine. The old lift got stuck between the ground floor and first floor but the security personals reacted in time to bring the situation under control.
Talking to the Press Trust of India, a security official said: “We quickly disconnected the power and manually opened the door. A stool was lowered inside and Dada came out by climbing on it.”
“When such things happen we quickly turn off the power and open the grill lock manually,” the official added.
A former Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) secretary said that the grill door lift was placed at the iconic stadium way back in 1987 when it hosted the World Cup final. However, since then the lift has not been changed.
“We have proposals to change the lift and install a high-tech automatic one but it will take some time,” the official added.
The historic stadium is gearing up to hosts India’s 250th Test match at home when the hosts lock horns against New Zealand in the second of the three-match Test series on September 30. Ganguly, who is CAB president, has taken several measures to make the occasion a special moment and one of them is hosting a picture exhibition.
“It is important that people get to see the history of the game. Then they have the feeling of being part of a special occasion. The 250th match inside the ground and a picture gallery showcasing the journey of the game in this country since inception is going to make their visit memorable,” Ganguly said.
The stadium has also seen a bell being installed similar to the one in Lord’s. However, the former Indian cricketer said that the Eden Bell is looking better than the Lord’s bell.
“It looks better than the bell at Lord’s. The bell will be rung by none other than Kapil Dev on the opening day of the match. There is also a brand new scoreboard where replays will look like television,” Ganguly said.
“We have something everyday. At lunch on opening day we have a talk show featuring Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Boria Majumdar among others. On the second day, we will felicitate Mohammad Shami and Wriddhiman Saha with a memento of Tiger crystal, along with the board officials. We are also having an indoor cricket with the corporates. They have incidentally bought most of the tickets,” Ganguly added.
India is leading the series 1-0 after winning the first match by 197 runs and will look to take an unassailable lead in the series.