India had previously refused to play a day-night Test during 2019-20 Test tour to Australia.
This request has led to former India captain Gautam Gambhir asking Australian skipper Tim Paine to get ready for the day-night Test match, given that Virat Kohli has already said that they are game for pink-ball Test when they tour Australia for a four-match Test series from November 2020 to January 2021.
"I like the way Australia skipper Tim Paine has "flighted" one for India captain Virat Kohli, challenging him to play a day-night fixture on the next tour Down Under. Knowing Virat he is not the one to back out. And why should he? A day-night Test match between India and Australia at Brisbane or the MCG will be quite a spectacle. And you can trust Aussies to make it a truly memorable game by some smart marketing. I haven't seen Virat's response for Paine but if I was him I would have straight away told him to make some late-night babysitting arrangements as we were ready!!!,” Gambhir wrote in his column for Times of India.
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Talking about the day-night Test match atmosphere in Eden Gardens, Gambhir said, "I was at Eden Gardens and the Pink Ball Test was done really well by Sourav Ganguly and his team. There was just enough hype and drama around the game. I was happy to see that fans' interest was not compromised. I'd now request Dada to have a Ranji Trophy final with a pink ball. My contribution to the pink ball Test was a pocket square that I teamed with my grey and blue suits that I wore while commentating. My wife says the pink pocket square was hardly visible. A few players said the same thing about the visibility of the pink cricket ball. I think these are early days for the colour pink to find a place in my wardrobe and in the Test cricket arena. We need to lean on time rather than jumping to conclusions and discarding it."
He suggested that the powerhouses of world cricket needed to help Bangladesh get better in longer formats, given that they are concentrating hard on the shorter formats. He also mentioned that a Bangladeshi team can be allowed to play in the Indian domestic circuit in the Duleep Trophy tournament.
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He said, “We can look at helping them out by allowing a Bangladesh team play in Duleep Trophy. Or maybe a system where their top players can at least train with top first-class teams of India. International cricket won't go anywhere if top 4-5 teams getting better while others are languishing."
He also talked about the Gautam Gambhir stand which was unveiled recently on November 26, 2019.
“You may know that "Gautam Gambhir Stand" is a new addition at Arun Jaitley Stadium. My 5-year old feels that I have committed some mistake and have been punished. Hence, "Gautam Gambhir Stand", the former opener concluded.
(Times of India inputs)