In a significant development for cricket enthusiasts in Uttar Pradesh, Rajiv Shukla, the vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), announced on Monday that the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) is in discussions with the state government to upgrade the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. This announcement comes as Green Park serves as the host venue for the ongoing Test match between India and Bangladesh, which has faced substantial disruptions due to inclement weather.
The proposal to upgrade Green Park follows a challenging few days where the second and third days of play were completely washed out due to rain. Despite occasional drizzles on Saturday, Sunday saw no rainfall, yet not a single ball was bowled owing to a persistently wet outfield. Addressing the media, Shukla, who also has a history of serving as the president of the UPCA, shed light on the issue.
“Sometimes it happens, though we all pray to Lord Indra, that it should not rain, but, you know, it happens. And it happens throughout the world. So, why unnecessarily Kanpur and Green Park are being blamed for something which is in nature’s hand?” Shukla stated, attempting to mitigate the mounting criticism the venue has been facing. This unfortunate weather episode marked the first time in as many as 80 years that rain had disrupted play to this extent in Kanpur. Shukla emphasized that historically, no match held at Green Park had ever been abandoned due to rain.
He elaborated that several stadiums worldwide have experienced match abandonments due to weather conditions. “Because when this ground was being built, the stadium was being constructed, then those technologies were not available,” he said. Contrasting Green Park’s aged infrastructure with modern stadiums, Shukla pointed to new facilities in Lucknow and under-construction venues in Varanasi equipped with advanced technology for rapid water removal.
In a proactive step to address the issue, discussions have commenced with the local administration on how to implement these modern drainage systems at Green Park. “Today I had a discussion with the administration on how we can develop this system by which the rainy water can immediately be soaked,” Shukla disclosed. “Immediately after coming here (Green Park), I had a discussion with the authorities and they are also on the same page and I think we will be able to improve the conditions here shortly.”
Adding further, he mentioned, “The moment I came here, I had a long discussion with government officials because this stadium belongs to the government. We are in agreement with them. So, now for that, the ground has to be dug up, new technology has to be applied and everything has to be done.
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The UPCA has notably favored hosting high-profile matches at the modern and technologically advanced Ekana Stadium in Lucknow in recent years. This Test match marks only the second instance of Test cricket being played at Kanpur’s Green Park in the last eight years. Responding to criticism about the venue’s ineffectiveness in dealing with wet conditions despite minor drizzles, Shukla defended the broader vision of spreading Test cricket across different regions in India rather than confining it to a few select centers, as suggested by various current and former cricketers.
“We have to go by the rotation policy,” Shukla asserted. “Also, India has got now a lot many venues, which Australia and other countries don’t have. And we have to provide opportunities for all of them.”
He further explained the rationale behind this widespread distribution, noting that cities regularly hosting matches tend to experience dwindling spectator numbers over time. “Sometimes what happens is that those cities where people get to see a lot many matches…IPL is also there, and then WPL is also there, then World Cup is also there, bilateral matches are also there. So, the number of spectators goes down in those cities because people are used to watching, you know, these T20 and one-day cricket and all that.”
Highlighting the enthusiasm for Test cricket in tier-two cities, he said, “So, that’s why this idea was floated that in B-grade cities, where we have got infrastructure, we should organize Test matches so that more and more people are attracted to it. Look here (in Kanpur), it’s almost packed. And even the last two days when there were rains, a lot of people turned up to watch the match. That means there is an appetite. People are eager to watch cricket.”
Thus, while the soggy outfield at Green Park posed a temporary setback, the commitment to uplift the venue’s standards and make Test cricket accessible to a broader audience reflects a forward-thinking approach by the UPCA and the BCCI.