Eden ready for champs

Next Tuesday, the Eden Gardens will host the ODI world champions for the first time since its Rs 80-crore revamp. Metro walks through the stadium to find out what has changed since the India-England World Cup tie was shifted to Bangalore in February

For the first time, the team buses will pull up in front of five giant pictures — of Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev, Laxman and Dravid, India’s T20 World Cup win and Sachin Tendulkar — above the main entrance of the stadium. The rest of the façade is made of glass, which has replaced murals of a bowler in delivery stride and a batsman following through after a lofted drive.

In blocks B, C, K and L, on either side of the Club House, perforated aluminium sheets imported from South Africa are being put up. The sheets will reflect amber light in the evening. The perforations will ensure circulation of air.

When the players practise on the ground, they will only see bucket seats in the stands, instead of a mix of concrete and plastic seats. Once the match starts, players might miss the mammoth electronic scoreboard, on which many a stroke and ball has been lauded. A smaller scoreboard and screen has replaced it.

The incomplete corporate boxes, one of the prime reasons Eden lost the World Cup match, are now ready. Each has a television and a refrigerator. Outside, a balcony overlooks the boundary line.

The plush décor and facilities like sauna, steam bath and ice buckets will come as a pleasant surprise to those who did not play at the stadium during the IPL. Each of the two new dressing rooms has two large flat-panel TVs, wooden flooring, 17 chairs that recline at the touch of a button, and even a kitchen. The lighting and air-conditioning have improved. What will bother the players and the support staff is the opacity of the dark glasses that separate the dressing rooms from the field: they will have to move out into the open to watch live action

What the players may not get to see but the spectators will not miss are the new toilets with modern fittings. The foul odour though is not quite gone. The sprawling food courts will also be a first for spectators.

The modern drinking water taps, costing Rs 700 each, that had been installed before the World Cup have been replaced with ordinary plastic taps.

“We will remove the plastic taps and install the expensive ones right before the match. We are doing this to make the branded taps last longer,” said Biswarup Dey, joint secretary, CAB.