Visitors’ gallery of Green Park a treasure trove of rare items

KANPUR: Though the Green Park’s visitor’s gallery has not been opened for the public as it is still under decoration process but the articles present there are unique and tell their own story.
The gallery showcases the history of Green Park from the time from it was constructed to the present day’s development having rare items of Indian as well as foreign players like their pads, gloves, bats, etc.The cricket bats were signed by the players various Indian and foreign cricket teams who had visited Kanpur to play international and IPL matches.
It also has newspapers’ clippings, photographs and pictures of players and almost all the captains who had led India. Apart from them, the gallery also has an amphibian theatre for audio visual tapes. A 15-minute documentary on the history of Green Park was displayed before the visiting guests.
A special article, the scorebook of Saurabh Chaturvedi was also on display. Saurabh had played well in all Indian matches played in India and abroad since 1959 on the basis of radio commentary. The unique thing is that that BCCI had recognized his scoring sheets having details like crowd and climatic conditions. Apart from it, it also has a cafeteria.
Divisional commissioner Raj Shekhar, whose brainchild is the visitor's gallery on Monday invited former Ranji trophy cricketers of the city, the office-bearers of Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association and media persons to seek their opinion and advice to make the gallery more valuable.
Talking to mediapersons and guests, the commissioner said he is contemplating to keep replicas of some articles for sale, and if any visitor wants to keep a memorable, he can purchase the replica or get himself photographed.
The audio visual documentary will be screened before every visitor. To make residents of the city and students aware about the history of cricket, he had decided to invite students of various schools in groups.
The international women cricket will also get space in this gallery, he added.