You could sympathise with the broadcasters trying to fill in air time when there is no cricket being played due to weather conditions. But there was a sense of irony when they felt sorry for the fans who had turned up in decent numbers over a Saturday and Sunday at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur between India and Bangladesh. Fans, who have mostly been just seeing covers on, or umpires / officials inspecting the ground. The sentiment expressed by one former India cricketer was that fans are the lifeblood of the sport and deserve to watch as much live action as possible.
If only that sentiment were true for those governing the sport in India, we’d not be in this utterly dire situation. On Day 2, rain stopped raining at 10 am but play was called off at 2 pm. On Day 3, there’s been no rain but the dampness in the outfield has, rightly, prevented the start of play. Even without rain, poor drainage has meant damp patches, turning the match into a damp squib. And even before the Test began, The Indian Express had reported that one of the stands at Green Park was deemed unsafe.
UPDATE 🚨
Play for Day 3 in Kanpur has been called off due to wet outfield.#TeamIndia | #INDvBAN | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/HPPxBMhY87
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 29, 2024
India has quite a few world-class venues, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s policy of trying to spread out Test matches around the country is something that needs serious reconsideration. Green Park’s sorry state of affairs isn’t just merely an inconvenience for fans who have turned up to watch. Imagine a home Test draw that leads to dropped points for India in the World Test Championships standings. After all, in the inaugural edition, Australia missed out due to docked points for slow over rate.
In 2019, then-captain Virat Kohli had called for dedicated Test centers in India after seeing disappointing crowds for a series against South Africa. Even if five is too few to be fixed, the pool of venues has to be smaller to host the longest format of the game. The white-ball matches are aplenty to keep the associations happy. But for Test cricket, this Kanpur debacle must be a lesson.
