Bipin Dani
Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who rang the 2-minute bell at the Eden Gardens on Thursday may be one of the very few cricketers who has had this honour at Lord’s in London also.
“We approached Sanga to ring our bell on Thursday and he readily accepted our proposal”, Snehasish Ganguly, the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and venue for the 2nd ODI between India and Sri Lanka, said.
Sanga has been one of the TV commentators in this bialateral series. “The two-minute bell is rung before the start of a day’s play during all international matches, be it Test, ODI orT-20I. We want to follow the legacy of Lord’s”.
Sanga rang the bell at Lord’s on the first day of the 3rd Test between England and Sri Lanka in 2016. The tradition of ringing the bell at Lord’s begain in 2007. Incidentally, Sanga also became the first non-Asian president of the MCC.
“We have installed this bell 5-6 years ago when my brother Sourav was the president of the association and this practice will continue”.
“Generally, we invite international cricketers for this. India’s first World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev was the first bell ringer at Eden Gardens when this Lord’s-type bell was installed at the iconic ground and the match was played against visiting New Zealand team”, he added. It is learnt that atLord’s, the bell is rung at 5-minute before the match.
