Kanpur's Green park wicket gets a high security treatment ahead of the IND-NZ decider

The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) has added more mass to the security around the 22-yard wicket in Kanpur, the venue for the third and final ODI match between India and New Zealand. UPCA acting secretary Yudhvir Singh said the security officials at the Green Park Stadium have been clearly instructed to not allow anyone into the venue without a valid pass.

Apart from the officials, the groundsmen too have been told not to reveal the nature of the wicket to anyone. BCCI curator Taposh Chatterjee is in charge and he is overseeing pitch preparations for the decider. The alert mode has been put on after the Pune ‘pitch fixing’ incident where curator Pandurang Salgaoncar revealed the nature of the wicket to bookies and agreed to make changes in an illegal manner.

Pune incident sends alert ring

The visiting side faltered and scored a mediocre 230, which was about 100 runs less than what the Pune curator had predicted to be an easy total on the wicket. India won the match quite comfortably towards the end.

“When there is no exchange or payment of money for the so-called predictions made by the curator on TV, you can’t say it is match-fixing. And if his predictions were correct, then how did New Zealand get out for such a low total batting first after winning the toss,” asked an official of the BCCI ground and pitch committee to the reporter of Hindustan Times, preferring anonymity.

“Against a seasoned man like Pandurang, such an accusation is baseless. If the incident is true then bosses of the Maharashtra Cricket Association should also be suspended as they were responsible for security near the pitch. How can anyone (outsider) contact or discuss anything about the pitch with Pandurang inside the stadium if the security was there?” he added.

“We have to be more careful after the incident in Pune. The police officials have been told that only individuals with valid accreditation can enter the stadium. This practice was already in place but we are extra-cautious now,” Singh told PTI.

“The groundsmen too have been instructed that they don’t need to discuss the nature of the pitch with anyone. What’s the need for that anyway,” Singh added.

India will look to maintain it’s winning run by adding one more trophy to its name while the Kiwis will go out to make history.