Eden Gardens allowed to have 70% capacity for the India-New Zealand T20I match

The 3rd and final T20I between India and New Zealand which will be taking place at the Eden Gardens on November 21, 2021, is expected to have a capacity of up to 70%. Right after the T20 World Cup 2021, which is currently going on in the United Arab Emirates is done and dusted, the BlackCaps team will arrive in India for a T20I and Test series.

The final T20I of that series will be played at the iconic stadium in Kolkata. On Friday, October 29, the West Bengal state government issued a directive that the stadium could be operated at 70% capacity. Eden Gardens has not hosted an international match since 2019 and this announcement from the state government is welcome news for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). 

The total capacity of the ground which hosted the 2016 T20 World Cup final, is 68,000. If operated on a 70% capacity range, we can expect somewhere between 47,000 and 48,000 people in the stands. The last international game at the ground was the first-ever pink-ball Test match for India, which was played against Bangladesh in November 2019. 

The stadium has not got a single big match since November 2019

Eden Gardens was supposed to host some of the matches during the IPL 2021 as well. However, the tournament was left incomplete and shifted abroad due to the growing COVID cases. The CAB President Avishek Dalmiya, son of former BCCI and CAB President, Jagmohan Dalmiya spoke about the T20I match between India and New Zealand. 

“Now that the nod from the state government has been received, we are also hopeful that the BCCI too would accord its consent (for the 70 percent capacity),” president Avishek Dalmiya was quoted as saying by Telegraph. The CAB pitch curator, Sujan Mukherjee said, “We’ve worked well in advance to keep the pitch and the outfield ready. The wicket will have a firm bounce, and it promises good cricket for sure. We’ll also get a fair idea from the women’s matches.”

Apart from the canceled IPL matches, the stadium was also due to host an ODI match in March 2020 against South Africa. The match and the series were eventually called off because of the coronavirus outbreak, which has starved the city of joy from any international or IPL match since then.