Eden Gardens dressing room catches fire during renovation work ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup
The dressing room at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata caught fire on Wednesday night around 11:50 pm, leading to the fire station deploying two engines to put out the flames within an hour.
The fire is believed to have ignited due to a short circuit issue in the false ceiling of the dressing room and was noticed by the people who were working there. Although the fire was not estimated to have caused significant damage, considering the grand scheme of things, it destroy some cricket equipment as the false ceiling was used as a storage space.
Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) secretary Debabrate Das rushed to the site of the putout fire and stated that the entire incident will be investigated. Such matters occurring only a few months before the World Cup does not bode well for the venue. The renovation work is going on at full speed at the ground as they have a deadline of September 15 to wrap up all of the work.
Sources from CAB have also mentioned that there is no means of video evidence to look into since there are no CCTV connections in the stadium at present. However, the investigation will be conducted to find out if any negligence from personnel played a role or not.
During the recent inspection of the venue by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Committee (ICC) officials, there was a lot of emphasis on how measures will be taken in the case of a fire breakout.
The venue will be subjected to yet another inspection next month, but the damage due to the fire, albeit not greatly significant, is likely to push back the renovation schedule at Eden Gardens.
Eden Gardens will host one of the semi-finals of the 2023 ODI World Cup
The iconic stadium, which hosted the final of the 2016 T20 World Cup, has been assigned one semi-final encounter along with four more matches. Team India will face South Africa at the stadium while the high-profile encounter between England and Pakistan is also scheduled to be played there.
CAB president Snehasis Ganguly recently stated that the ICC officials were satisfied with the renovation work at the Eden Gardens.
"They don't have much observation. They are satisfied with the work. After IPL they are very happy with the clubhouse, conference room, and all. They have little issue with the washroom. But they are happy with the work that is going on. We are discussing on improving the commentary boxes. We are in the discussion stage. They will mail us the report and will again have an inspection on the 1st of September," he said.
Eden Gardens' first World Cup contest comes in the form of an encounter between Bangladesh and the Netherlands on October 28.