Rahul sad for not being able to entertain Eden

Kolkata, Feb 8 (UNI) India skipper Rahul Dravid's heart went out to the people at Eden Gardens whom the two teams could not give the pleasure of a game today.

Addressing a brief press conference, Dravid said, ''I feel really bad for the people who waited so patiently. The groundsmen did a commendable job.'' ''But at the end of it all, the ground was unfit for play. My heart goes out to the people,'' he said.

Later, CAB president Prasun Mukherjee added: ''The groundsmen tried their best. But the conditions were not ideal for playing.'' ''With the World Cup approaching neither countries could risk injuring any of their players. I feel for the crowd of Eden,'' he said.

''We prepared the ground and the facilities in little over 12 days and it's disappointing for us too. But we hope that we will have more games in future and we will be able to host it without the weather gods intervening,'' he added.

The umpires made the final inspection at 2030 hrs and if there was any chance of the conditions improving, they would have converted it into a Twenty20 match, he said.

UNI