Over 5 years ago, in 2019, Virat Kohli, the then Indian captain advocated for the Indian Cricket Team to have no more than 5 Test Centres across the country. Now in 2024, India watched on as Day 3 in Kanpur during the recently concluded India vs Bangladesh Test match was completely washed out due to poor drainage systems and under-par facilities at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur.
Ravichandran Ashwin, the winner of the Player Of The Series award voiced his opinion on having limited test centres in India. He cited how there are certain pre-requisites that need to be maintained when you play Test Cricket in a stadium, which include the facilities and the weather. He then talked about how other countries have fixed venues where Test Cricket is supposed to be played, while other venues are mostly used for White-Ball cricket but never for Test Cricket.
Ashwin stated, “Does it help a player if you have just a few Test centres? Most certainly it does.” He later continued, “When we go to Australia, they play India only at five Test centres. They don’t play us at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. They don’t play us at any of the other venues there. Because, they know that they won’t be very familiar with the conditions. So do England. They have certain select Test centres and that’s where they play. Some of those are only white-ball centres”
In the end, he also added that it was “above his pay grade” to comment on whether this could be implemented in India. Indicating how it was a decision to be taken by the BCCI and not him or any other players.
But you know who else had talked about all of this much much ago? Yes Virat Kohli. 5 years ago, Virat Kohli during a press conference following a 202-run victory over South Africa on Day 3 of the last test match of the series, had talked about the need of having 5 dedicated test centres like in Australia and England.
His main concern was the low attendance to watch Test Cricket which was present at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi and also the poor attendance which the team witnessed in Pune. He stated, “In my opinion, we should have five strong Test centres. In Test cricket, teams coming into India should know that they are going to play at these five centres, these are the pitches and crowds to expect. It can’t be sporadic and spread over so many places.”
Virat Kohli further continued, “When it comes to Test cricket, teams coming to India should know that they are playing at these five centres. So that becomes a challenge already when you are leaving their shores because when we go to any place, we know we are having four Test matches at these venues.”
Such was Virat Kohli’s vision that 5 years after he made those comments on Test Cricket In India, it is still an issue that needs addressing. He truly is the pioneer of Indian Cricket in so many ways more than just his batting and fitness. Do you think India should adopt Virat Kohli’s strategy of having 5 dedicated Test Centres? Let us know in the comments below.
