Kolkata, Dec 24 (IANS) Play in the fourth one-day international (ODI) between India and Sri Lanka was disrupted for 26 minutes Thursday after one of the four floodlight towers at the Eden Gardens here went off triggering a blame game among the various agencies.
Sri Lanka were 307 for six in 49.2 overs (at 5.58 p.m.) when the floodlight tower at the High Court end malfunctioned, halting play.

The lights in the tower were fully restored after 23 minutes. Three minutes later Sri Lanka resumed their innings.

A spokesman of the city’s power utility Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) told IANS that it was not their fault and power supply was uninterrupted.

“There was no problem on our end. The power supply was not disrupted even for a second. The bulbs in the tower developed a snag and it is a maintenance problem,” the spokesman said.

A Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) official categorically denied any faux pas on his organisation’s part.

“The snag could have been caused by a voltage fluctuation. And if they say it is due to bad maintenance, then you should put the question to the state PWD (public works department) which is in charge of the maintenance.”

However, state PWD minister Kshiti Goswami said his department had no role to play in maintaining the floodlights.

“The tower is within the CAB’s jurisdiction. The supplier is CESC. And we only help the CAB,” Goswami told IANS.

“The cause could be voltage fluctuation. As stadium sub-committee incharge for the match, I had asked CESC whether they have thoroughly checked the lights. They assured me that everything was ok,” Goswami said.

This was the second such occasion when a top cricketing encounter had to be stopped at the Eden Gardens due to floodlight failure. The first instance was an Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers in 2008.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who watched the match for some time, said she “felt something fishy”.

“‘Dal me kuch kala hai’ (there is something fishy about it). Bengal has got a One Day International after almost three years. The organisers will certainly not do anything which will show them in poor light. We will enquire into this after the match is over,” Banerjee told reporters.