The Green Park Stadium in Kanpur is an iconic venue. The first ever Test at the venue was played in January 1952. It was the 12th Test India hosted at home and ninth after independence. The stands are not world class and a section still needs repairing, floodlights are not dependable when the visibility is low but the venue holds significance in India’s cricket history.
Notably, the soil used to prepare the pitch is not from Kanpur. The soil is from a pond in nearby district, Unnao which is more than 20km away from the venue.
Green Park Stadium is set to hosts its 24th Test commencing on September 26 against Bangladesh. The pitch typically favours spinners and it won’t be a surprise if India go with three spinners and rest the extra pacer they included for Chennai Test. It will be interesting to see whether the team management goes with Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav as their third spinner.
What happened last time Kanpur hosted a Test?
In the last Test played at Green Park, Indian spinners accounted for 17 wickets out of 19. However, for New Zealand, it was their pacers who did the trick. Tim Southee bagged a five-wicket haul. Only Ajaz Patel managed to take three wickets whereas William Somerville and Rachin Ravindra remained wicketless. Also, amidst bad light, New Zealand managed to salvage a draw with just one wicket in hand.
Update over Shakib’s availability
Meanwhile, there is a question mark over Bangladesh’s veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan’s availability.
"At the moment, I haven't heard from my physio or from anyone. He is still eligible for selection," Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said.
If Shakib does not recover from the injury, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam may replace him.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal
Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana, Jaker Ali, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Syed Khaled Ahmed
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