Windies' collapse dashes CAB plans to shower petals for Sachin

Cricket Association of Bengal's (CAB) grandiose plans to felicitate Sachin Tendulkar by showering 199 kg rose petals from the skies crashed with India trouncing the West Indies within three days in the first of the two-match Test series at the Eden Gardens here Friday.

Tendulkar, who played his 199th Test here, will hang up his willow after his 200th match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai (Nov 14-18).

CAB had initially announced that 199 kg of petals -- marking Tendulkar's 199th Test -- would be showered from a helicopter. Later, CAB bosses made a revised plan to shower the petals from three two-seater aircraft either on the fourth or fifth day, after the match ended.

"We had booked the aircraft and taken permission from the air traffic control (ATC) for two days -- Saturday and Sunday -- for the programme. But we could not do anything as the match took a sudden turn and dramatically ended today," CAB joint secretary Subir Ganguly told IANS.

The West Indies crumbled after tea to suffer the ignominy of an innings and 51-run defeat.

"We had merely an hour's time to make the arrangements. It was impossible to seek written permission from the ATC, arrange the aircraft and the flowers," lamented Ganguly.

It was an overall dismal showing on the part of CAB which had made tall claims about a full house at the iconic venue, distribution of Tendulkar masks and placards and floating of balloons to give a befitting adieu to the cricketing genius. However, the stadium was only half full on the opening day and the attendance dropped further in the next two days.

The authorities continued to change the distribution dates for the masks and placards. While some of them were distributed Thursday, some were handed out Friday but the initiatives seemed in bits and pieces, devoid of any concrete and comprehensive planning.