The third Test between Sri Lanka and India will not be played at Kanpur, as officials of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association said they would not be able to host it, an Indian cricket Board official said on Wednesday.
The Tours Programmes and Fixtures Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, headed by Shashank Manohar, will meet in Mumbai on December 3 to decide on a new venue.
"The UPCA has expressed its inability to conduct it [the Test] at Kanpur (from December 18-22) as per the original schedule and the Tours Programmes and Fixtures would take a decision on the matter in Mumbai on December 3," BCCI's executive secretary-in-charge Ratnakar Shetty said.
The three-Test series starts in Chennai on Friday, with the second Test in New Delhi from December 10 to 14 and the third between December 18 and 22.
The local municipal corporation's refusal to hand over the Green Park stadium well in advance forced the UPCA to express its inability to play hosts.
"It is not correct to say we have expressed our inability to host the match. We have informed the Annual General Meeting that we have not been yet allotted the ground," UPCA secretary Jyoti Bajpai had said over phone earlier on Wednesday.
Bajpai's clarification came amidst speculation that the match could be shifted out of Kanpur.
He said normally the UPCA receives charge of the stadium, which it takes on lease from the municipal corporation, 30 days before a match.
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