AUS v IND 2018-19: Denial to play D/N Test shortsighted of India, says Mike Brearley

India refused to play this year's traditional Day/Night pink-ball encounter at Adelaide.

The game needs India to give its support to Day/Night Test Cricket | Getty

Backing the much anticipated ICC World Test Championship and Day-Night Test cricket to help the game overcome the major obstacle of diminishing spectator interest at grounds for the traditional red-ball game, former England skipper Mike Brearley has said that India's decision to not indulge in a pink-ball encounter at Adelaide during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy was very self-serving and shortsighted, to say the least.

Australia has played four pink-ball Tests - New Zealand(2015), Pakistan(2016), South Africa(2016), England(2017) - and has won all of them. It is considered to be a big reason behind India's refusal, that they don't want to start off a marquee series at a disadvantage having not played any international pink ball Day/Night Test match.

It's a self-inflicted situation though, as BCCI continues to look at this innovation with conservatism. India and Bangladesh remain the only two countries to have not played a Day/Night Test so far.

"It (Test Championship) will help. They (the concerned authorities) have to do everything they can to help (Test cricket). Day-night Test matches are one thing too. I was very sorry to hear that India refused to play a day-night Test in Adelaide. That was short-sighted," Brearley told PTI.

Brearley believes that the two-year-long marquee event, which kickstarts next year, can actually help sustain the traditional format of the game in contemporary world, where the red-ball cricket struggles to attract viewership across platforms.

The ICC Test Championship will see nine of the 12 Test nations (excluding newcomers Ireland and Afghanistan, as well as Zimbabwe) play six series over two years – three home and three away - in a league format before a final in June 2021.

He said, "I think the Test Championships will help. What somebody raised in our discussion today, to have proper facilities for people coming to Test matches in India, will (also) help."

"Making people comfortable in Test matches, marketing Test matches, all these things have to be done as much as possible for Test cricket, finding windows for Test cricket, which will not be interfered by domestic T20 series," and signed off.

The tour begins with the first T20I at Gabba on Wednesday, November 21. Before the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy starts at Adelaide on December 6.

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 19 Nov, 2018

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