Kolkata, March 26 (IANS) Days ahead of hosting the World Twenty 20 final on April 3, the Eden Gardens encountered a floodlight failure that caused a 15-minute stoppage during a Group 1 encounter between New Zealand and Bangladesh on Saturday.
Chasing New Zealand's total of 148/5, Bangladesh were struggling at 45/6 at the end of 11 overs when one of the four massive light towers towards the high court end malfunctioned. The players had no choice but to leave the field led by the umpires.
After around 15 minutes, the lights came back and play resumed.
Reportedly, a generator back-up and power supply in E Block failed at the same time.
A top official of the Cricket Association of Bengal said the failure occurred because of a "human error".
"A switch over from CESC cables to generators was supposed to take place during the innings break. But that did not happen. So one of the officials in charge of the lights tried to do it in the 11th over of the match and so it happened. He has accepted his fault. For the finals, we will ensure nothing like this happens," the official told reporters.
Foodlight failures are recurring happenings at the iconic venue. In 2009, during an India versus Sri Lanka One-Day International (ODI), play had to be stopped for the same reason.
Prior to that, during a 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers also, such light interruptions shamed the ground.
