The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Friday said that Indian skipper Virat Kohli is open to the idea of playing day-night Tests and it could be a reality in near future.
He had a meeting with Kohli in Mumbai on Thursday where the idea was floated.
“I must say that Virat Kohli is agreeable to it. There are reports that he does not want to play day-night Tests which is not the fact. So once the captain of India is agreeable to it, life becomes a lot easier. We will see how we can push it. The game needs to go forward,” Ganguly said during the sidelines of his felicitation by the CAB at the Eden Gardens.
The former India captain had been a vocal advocate of pink ball Test in order to bring back the spectators to the stadium.
“We all are thinking about this and we will do something about it. I am a firm believer in Day Night Tests. I don’t know when will that happen. But till the time I am around, I will be pushing for it,” Ganguly said.
However it must be mentioned that if Ganguly’s tenure is not extended beyond July, the Day-Night Test might not be reality as India next play five-day games at home only in December 2020-January, 2021. The home Tests against Bangladesh are last for this season.
As a technical committee chairman, Ganguly in the past was a part of the decision to have Duleep Trophy under lights with pink ball. However the domestic bowlers had complaints about the quality of the SG Test pink balls which were used. Also dew became a factor in the northern part of India taking spinners completely out of equation.
From 2016-17 season, it was played under lights before being scrapped during the ongoing season by the domestic cricket operations team of the board.
At this point, even the Indian team is not too keen on playing Day-Night Test matches and they had rejected Cricket Australia’s offer during the last away series.
Ganguly also highlighted that India have not won a world tournament for a long time.
“A cricket nation is known by the number of Tests and world tournaments won. It’s pretty simple as sometime we complicate the game too much. We try to do things which don’t exist.
“The team has played well over the last three years as you can see we have not a world tournament for last seven-eight seasons. But I’m sure there’s enough talent in the team to do that.”
Ganguly also spoke about the IPL and how it has grabbed the eyeball.
“The IPL is probably is biggest league in the world. That two and half months is no way inferior to the English Premier League. In terms of TV rating and eyeballs. For me, it’s important to bring the system back in plan all levels.”
Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin and VVS Laxman, both of whom had played some incredible knocks at the Eden Gardens, felicitated its favourite son, presenting him with bouquets.
Ganguly was welcomed at the Eden Gardens with giant placards of ‘Dadagiri begins once again’ and Sachin Tendulkar’s iconic statement “When people throw stones at you, you turn them into milestones”.
azhar supports bid
Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin has supported BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s claims to hold Day/Night Tests.
The Hyderabad Cricket Association president is happy that skipper Virat Kohli is also on the same page with the BCCI president.
“It is good if captain is agreeable like Dada. It is a good experiment. You will get to know if public will like it or not. It should be implemented,” Azharuddin said during the felicitation ceremony.
Azhar, who was Ganguly’s first international captain, is happy to see him grow in his role as an administrator.
“I am very happy Ganguly has become the BCCI president. He’s one of the finest persons and an outstanding human being. One of the best players we won so many tournaments. He played cricket in his terms and as BCCI president too I hope he will play that on his term also,” he said.
