If you have watched so much as one cricket match, you would know that rain is kryptonite for the sport. Even the presence of grey clouds in the sky can force the teams to take covers, nulling out all and any cricket possible. The second Test match between India and Bangladesh saw something similar unfold. This is not unusual to witness entire days get washed out, thanks to rain. Especially, when the abandoning of all five days of the Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand is still fresh in the memory. But what Kanpur witnessed was a tad strange. Barring 37 overs which were bowled on the first day of the second and last Test game between Bangladesh and India, no cricket was played during the first three days.
While the first two days saw an immense amount of rain wreaking havoc on the ground, the third day was relatively quiet, with no rain during the game hours. Despite that, both teams were refused entry into the ground. Umpires and the ground staff concluded that the ground was not in an ideal condition for cricket to take place. Overnight rain had formed ugly looking wet patches which forced the third day to go down the drain as well. Following this, many fans and pundits criticized the cricket board for arranging a Test match at the venue without better facilities to cope with the rain.
Rajiv Shukla, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), justifying the decision to host a Test match in Kanpur after three years, said that the purpose of having a Test match at the venue was because it is a ‘heritage ground’. He also said that the administration was not expecting the rain to fall so abundantly.
“Well, criticism is one thing which we are used to in the administration of the BCCI in cricket. But everything is being criticized. When we are not giving matches to Kanpur because [of certain reasons], then also I was being criticized. Now we are giving the match and I am still being criticized for why it has been given to Kanpur. So that goes on.”
“You know the problem is that this ground is around 80 years old. It is our heritage ground. If you remember it used to be a permanent Test centre. The original six permanent Test centres were Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Kanpur. This is a permanent centre. So the whole idea was to have Test matches here. This is the first time in 80 years that it rained so much that we were not able to host the match for two days.”
When asked why the ground does not have better facilities and a drainage system to reduce the damage caused by rain, the BCCI VP said that the stadium was built 80 years ago when the technology of the present day did not exist.
“The history suggests that no match has been abandoned here in Kanpur. There are many venues in the world where because of the rains, matches have been abandoned. So here if for two days the match couldn’t take place, I don’t think there should be too much hue and cry. When this ground was being built, and the stadium was being built, then those technologies were not available. Now technologies are available. Like in our Lucknow stadium, we have got that technology. And in Varanasi, we are building another stadium. There we have got high-tech, modern technology to take away the rainwater.”
He also assured the critics that the board is working to develop a modern system to drain the rainwater as soon as possible.
“Here also we are planning. Today I had a discussion with administration about how we can develop this system by which the rainwater can immediately be [drained].”
