An obsolete drainage system at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur meant that play was not possible on Day 3 despite no rain. (Sportzpics)
There was no rain at Green Park stadium here throughout Sunday, but not a ball was bowled for the second successive day of the India-Bangladesh Test. The reason: an obsolete drainage system.
With only 35 overs possible over three days, a draw is on the cards, a result that would impact India’s chances of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Leading 1-0 in the series, Rohit Sharma and his men are scheduled to play New Zealand at home, followed by a five-Test tour of Australia.
Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) treasurer Prem Manohar Gupta did concede that Green Park wasn’t as upgraded as many other Test grounds the world’s richest cricket body owns across the country.
“Look, it is an old ground. This ground doesn’t have modern facilities. We are planning to restructure the drainage system, right after this match. We will uplift the drainage system in a way that the match starts the moment rain stops,” Gupta told The Indian Express.
BCCI vice-president and Rajya Sabha Congress MP Rajeev Shukla, who currently holds no position in UPCA but has been connected to UP cricket for close to two decades, blamed the rain for the debacle. “What can we do? It is a 75-year-old stadium. It is a heritage venue. It is a permanent Test centre also. We can’t control the weather. If it rains heavily, even stadiums with a proper drainage system can’t take it. Blaming the centre for that is wrong,” he said.
General view during day three of the Kanpur Test at the Green Park. (Sportzpics)
Shukla went on to add, “We have to relay the ground and fix the drainage. Back then when Green Park was built, there was no concept of drainage.”
The UPCA doesn’t own Green Park stadium but got it on a 30-year lease from the state government. The other international ground in the state — Lucknow’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium — is owned by Ekana Sportz City’s management.
On the issue of India’s most populated state not having a BCCI-owned venue for years, Shukla said, “We have Ekana in Lucknow, which was developed a few years ago. It is equipped with all modern facilities. One in Varanasi is under construction and will be functional soon.”
Not just the drainage, even the stadium structure was not found to be match ready on Test eve. Majority of tickets for Stand C, close to the press box, were not sold as it was deemed unfit by the Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD). The Indian Express had reported that there were safety concerns about the upper block stand, which has a capacity of 4,800. The venue’s security arrangement too came under the scanner when a well-known Bangladesh fan alleged that he was beaten up on Day 1 of the Test.
