Not a drop of rain during the match, yet not a ball could be bowled in the entire Ranji Trophy game between Bengal and Bihar at the Bengal Cricket Academy (BCA) ground in Kalyani. The match was abandonedon Monday.

Bihar are still not among the domestic elites and this was a game from which Bengal could well have secured seven points (win and bonus). But all that captain Anustup Majumdar and his teammates got was only a point, which may go on to hurt their chances of making the competition’s knockout stage.

Of course, the weather is beyond anyone’s control, but a forecast of rain in Kalyani was there and the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) were aware of it before the game’s scheduled start last Friday. As a precautionary measure, enough covers could have been put in place to take care of the entire ground — not just the pitch, run-up area and the square — on the eve of the game, which could have then brightened prospects of play. Instead, there were wet patches in the outfield, which remained even till Monday, that ruined the game.

“This was the first time in my career that I saw a game getting abandoned without a drop of rain during the match timings. It rained only on Saturday morning, but that was before the scheduled start of play,” a disconsolate Majumdar told The Telegraph later in the evening.

“The soil in this ground is clay-based. When there’s rain, it leads to water seeping in while the ground takes more time to get dried up. The groundsmen at BCA tried their best. Had the entire ground been covered at least a day before the match was scheduled to begin, we could have got a game. We already knew about the rain forecast,” the skipper said.

The CAB, on its part, had claimed last Friday that the entire ground would be under covers from that night itself. But that didn’t materialise. “There just wasn’t enough covers out there,” a senior Bengal cricketer said.

“Also, the two supersoppers there don’t seem to be working well. One of them was completely malfunctioning.”

Most of the CAB officials were unwilling to speak on this matter. However, it was learnt that more covers have already been ordered for Bengal’s next Ranji game at the same venue, which is against Kerala beginning on Saturday. Inclement weather is a possibility during that match as well.

“The association has already ordered the covers. By Wednesday morning, the entire (BCA) ground should be covered. The association’s head curator Sujan Mukherjee is monitoring the entire thing,” a CAB insider said.

Senior pacer Ishan Porel could be available for selection against Kerala. That was the only good news for Team Bengal on the day.