Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar got angry after the entire first T20I of the three-match series between India and South Africa was abandoned at Durban on December 10. His frustrations were on the entire ground not being covered, leaving a possibility of further delays even if the rains stopped as well. The umpires waited for over two hours after the toss time before the game was called off due to the wet conditions.

Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “If the ground remains uncovered and the rain stops, you know it doesn’t start for another one hour. Suddenly it rains again. So there’s no play whatsoever. Everybody (cricket boards) is getting a lot of money. Let’s make no mistake. All the cricket boards have got plenty of money. If they say they don’t, they are lying. They might not have as much money as the BCCI. Fair enough. But every board has got money to buy these covers to cover the entire ground.”

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“So many World Cup matches in England (2019) did not take place because the ground was not covered. The rain had stopped, but the rest of the ground was, you know, wet. So a lot of teams lost points. South Africa. I remember that they wanted to play against some team and the match didn’t take place or something had happened, mainly because the outfield was wet,” further added Gavaskar.

However, the 2019 World Cup witnessed four matches being abandoned due to rain- the Pakistan-Sri Lanka, South Africa-West Indies, Bangladesh-Sri Lanka, and India-New Zealand clashes. Serving as the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and later for the BCCI, Sourav Ganguly made good moves during his tenure.

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“What the boards need to do now is to cover the entire ground. Let’s have no excuse. I remember I think there was one Test match at Eden Gardens called where there was some problem at the game didn’t start. Next game, Eden Gardens had the entire ground covered of. That is the kind of initiative that you want to have. Sourav Ganguly was the man in charge and he made sure that nobody could point the finger at Eden Gardens,” said Sunil Gavaskar.