Coming soon: Guided tour of Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens has always rivalled Lords as the spiritual home of cricket.
Eden Gardens has always rivalled Lord’s as the spiritual home of cricket. Early next year,India’s noisiest and most passionate arena will have a little more in common with Lord’s,with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) set to introduce a stadium tour of Eden.
The tour will be the first of its kind in the country,and give fans access to never-seen-before areas of one of the world’s great sporting venues. The tour will allow people to take a look at the view from the best seats of the stadium even when there are no matches. They will also get a chance to follow in the footsteps of legends and sit in the dressing room that has housed the likes of Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid,VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly.
A cricket museum is going to be the tour’s main attraction. For the last five years the CAB has been contemplating building a museum a la Lord’s. The present administration is “determined” to finish the work by early next year.
2001 win on AV
“We plan to put the cricketing gear that Dravid and Laxman used during that unforgettable Test against Australia in 2001,and an audio-visual of their epic partnership,on top of our display board. We will also request Sunil Gavaskar,Tendulkar and other greats to donate their equipment to the museum. For the items used by the overseas greats we will contact the cricket boards of all Test playing countries. A photo gallery and a souvenir shop will also be part of the package. The tour will give the visitors the opportunity to relive great sporting memories and we will set a trend as far as Indian sport is concerned,” CAB joint-secretary Biswarup Dey told The Indian Express.
The state association plans to set the tour timing from 2 to 8 pm so that tourists can experience the stadium under lights as well. The cost,however,hasn’t been finalised yet.
Most of the top stadiums in the world offer stadium tours. A tour at Lord’s costs 25 pounds,while the Melbourne Cricket Ground tour costs 20 Australian dollars. Almost all major football clubs in England have this facility as well. A visit to Anfield costs 15 pounds for adults and 9 pounds for those under 16. Manchester United’s home ground Old Trafford throws open its gates to the public for 12.50 pounds. The CAB wants to keep it affordable.
Share
