India organising its first-ever D/N pink-ball Test this month against Bangladesh in Kolkata at the behest of new BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has found vocal support from former international umpire Simon Taufel who believes this is the way to go for the longest format of the game.
"High performance modern business is about pushing the envelope," Taufel, who is in India to launch his book titled "Finding The Gaps", told IANS. "It's about going places where we haven't been before and taking educated risks. We take that based on research and what the customers want."
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"We know if we don't do anything about Test cricket, it's under threat. It is facing some challenges. We could be doing a lot more to promote Test cricket. We need to explore pink ball in that aspect," he added.
"Sometimes you need to try things to know whether they work or they don't. Pink ball cricket is something that needs to be explored before we take it off the table."
Regarded as one of the best-ever umpires, Taufel was present when the first Day-Night was played in Adelaide between Australia and New Zealand in 2015. "It works in some countries and some environments. In Adelaide for example it's been a tremendous success. Drawing people to Test cricket that may not have already come," he said.
The added context and relevance of the game being part of the World Test Championship has Taufel's backing as well despite the concept's imperfect points system.
"I don't expect it to be perfect like nothing is in cricket or life," he said. "But what is important with the Test Championship is that we have context and relevance. Every game means something. We have to be playing for something."
"The quality of television coverage is fantastic these days. People don't want to come to the stands," added Taufel who officiated in 74 Tests from the year 2000 to 2012. "Possibly one of the ways (to revive Test cricket) is pink ball. People these days work a lot and don't have time to watch sport. They need to be enticed in some way."
(Inputs from IANS)
