The opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group A match between Bengal and Gujarat at Eden Gardens was washed out here on Friday.

The forecast for Saturday speaks of a better weather, with no rain predicted, but chances of play on the second day too are slim.

That is because barring the main square and the areas adjoining the practice pitches, the ground lay uncovered on Friday, exposed to heavy rain.

Even if there is no further rain on Saturday, it would require adequate sunshine to dry up the moisture beneath the grass level of the ground.

By the way, the Cricket Association of Bengal is well equipped to cover the entire ground.

Then why didn’t it do so? There was no official comment, but insiders said that it would have required “a hundred ground-staff” if the whole ground was to be covered and employing so many people for a Ranji Trophy match was not feasible. The logic is debatable though.

Pankaj Patnaik, the neutral curator in charge of the ground for this match, however told The Telegraph that there was a good chance of having play on Day II if there was no rain.