Finally, the BCCI’s worst-kept secret is out. The BCCI today decided to shift the venue of the first cricket Test between India and New Zealand from Green Park, Kanpur, to Motera in Ahmedabad. BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya said the decision was taken after the board’s Grounds and Wickets Committee visited Kanpur and submitted its report on progress of the work there.However, the decision goes against the views of Anand Shukla, the BCCI’s pitch panel member from the Central Zone, who two weeks ago wrote to Dalmiya to say that the ground would be okay in time for the October Test.In his letter to Dalmiya, dated July 23, Shukla gave a ‘‘more than satisfactory’’ report, stressing that the pitch and outfield preparation were on the right track.Today, Dalmiya blamed the poor state of the pitch on a tussle between the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association and the Green Park authorities. The committee, he said, had also recommended that Kanpur should not be alloted any international match unless the dispute was settled.‘‘There was practically no work at the ground for the past six months and though it started only recently it was progressing at snail’s pace’’, he said.Today’s decision would seem to vindicate the stand taken by UP Cricket Association secretary Jyoti Bajpai, who first raised the issue, though unofficially. He later told The Indian Express that a Test match on Green Park’s virgin track — the pitch, relaid a year ago, has not been played on — would be a risk not worth taking. ‘‘If there is a repeat of the Nagpur incident, where the pitch just fell apart, Kanpur can be blacklisted for a long time.’’The Green Park wicket has been in news for the past year. Sometime last August former pitches committee chief G Kasturirangan looked at the bald patches on the outfield and said ‘‘Instead of Green Park, this should be called Brown Park’’.
