An inspection by the Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department has found that one of the stands at Green Park stadium is unsafe, and the state officials have advised the stadium authorities not to fill it up to capacity.
On Tuesday, a delegation from the PWD along with members of the engineering department at Harcourt Butler Technical University in Kanpur were at Green Park to check for structural frailties. Sanjay Kapoor, the venue director, said this was routine.
"Whenever an event is held anywhere, government departments conduct their own surveys," Kapoor said. "PWD and HBTU also conducted their inspection three days before the match and found that some seats in C block cannot be used for spectators as it is not safe."
The C stand is one of the oldest structures at Green Park. It has been undergoing repair work for the past two days. The upper block can seat 4800 people but on the PWD's advice, only a limited number of those seats will go on sale.
"About 1750 seats of the upper block of are still available for spectators," Kapoor said, "We are going for full capacity in the lower block."
The last time Green Park hosted a Test match, against New Zealand in 2021, there were visibility concerns, even though the floodlights were in operation. The final day's play ended 12 minutes early with New Zealand's 10th wicket pair holding on for a dramatic draw. Kapoor insisted that the floodlights are "ready to use" if they become needed and considering the forecast for at least the first three days of the game, they might be.
"When you organise an international match, you have to take permission from government departments," he said. "But it is useless to say that we are organising this match without any government permission. Apart from this, all the floodlights are fine and ready to use. To avoid the terror of monkeys, we have made two-tier arrangements."
The Kanpur Test will begin on Friday, September 27. India will be looking to sweep the series having already won the Chennai Test last week, by 280 runs.