The hype built around Sachin Tendulkar's swansong match at the Eden Gardens fizzled out today as there was no airshow of 199kg of rose petals shower, and no celebrity attendance as the opening Test against the West Indies folded inside three days without going into the weekend.
"We had made all the arrangements for the fifth and the fourth day. Even the permission from ATC (Air traffic control) was taken for the two days. We didn't expect that the game would end on the third day," CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey said.
In fact, the CAB had expected a fourth day finish as some high profile guests including BCCI supremo N Srinivasan, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and cricketing legends Brian Lara and Steve Waugh were expected tomorrow to felicitate Tendulkar.
"Lara and Waugh already have boarded the flights are expected any time. But things did not go our way," another CAB official said.
The master himself had a forgettable outing after being dismissed for 10 in the first session of second day. He came in to the crease at 9.39 am and only when he started to get into the groove hitting two boundaries, Tendulkar became victim of a dubious umpiring decision.
It was not even half filled as only about 20,000 crowd saw him bat for the last time at the historic stadium.
The CAB, which had welcome the iconic cricketer with confetti burst and erecting a wax statue and took out a tableux, had grand plans of distributing 70,000 Tendulkar masks but it turned out to be a flop show.
The masks were circulated only today but as India did not have to bat again with the West Indies handing an innings and 51 runs defeat there was no 'Tendulkar show' on the stands as well.
