CAB hopeful of getting India-Ireland match

Kolkata, Feb 8 (PTI) The ICC might have ruled out thepossibility of the Eden Gardens hosting an India match in theupcoming World Cup match but the Cricket Association of Bengal(CAB) is still living on hope.

After getting a favourable response from an ICC statementwhcih said the stadium was on course for the three non-Indiamatches scheduled in March, the CAB is making an appeal forgetting the India vs Ireland match, scheduled to be held inBangalore on March 6.

The CAB''s point of argument is Bangalore will behosting two India matches.

"We will appeal to the BCCI to give us at least thematch against Ireland as Bangalore will be hosting two matchesnow. As per the BCCI guideline, every venue in India shouldget an India match or one from the knock-out stage," CABjoint-secretary Biswarup Dey said.

"Since we are not hosting any match in the knock-outstage, we are making a request to give us the India-Irelandmatch. It''s difficult to imagine Eden Gardens not hostingIndia in the World Cup. It''s for everybody to see that ourvenue is ready and the work is complete."

A day after the ICC trio of Campbell Jamieson, ChrisTetley and Eugene van Vuuren inspected the venue the apex bodyissued a release which quoted CEO Haroon Lorgat saying thatthey were pleased with the progress work at the stadium.

"We are pleased with the progress made since January25 and if that pace of work is maintained, we believe that thestadium will be ready for the games scheduled in March."

The CAB president, Jagmohan Dalmiya, however said theywere yet to get a final confirmation from the ICC.

"It''s not clear from the media release. We have notbeen intimated about anything. We don''t want to create anycontroversy now by making some comments," Dalmiya said.

The ICC yesterday visited the Eden Gardens that lookedbetter from the one during their last inspection on January25.

Not happy with the progress of renovation work at theEden Gardens, ICC had ruled out the venue for the India vsEngland match scheduled for February 27, and the tie wasshifted to Bangalore.

The remaining three World Cup matches at the venueare: South Africa vs Ireland (March 15), Netherlands vsIreland (March 18) and Zimbabwe vs Kenya (March 20).