Former Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim who is currently working as general Managers (cricket operations) in BCCI has urged the board to rethink its chances of hosting day-night Test matches in future. For the moment, BCCI and the CoA both are against this idea while Saba has batted for its promotion recently.
In a recent interview with Times of India, Saba Karim spoke in detail about the prospects of such a change in Indian Test cricket.
When questioned on the possibility of India hosting a day-night Test against West Indies in October, Saba said " We are exploring the possibility. There is a strong reason why we should have day/night Tests. If you look at it from a global perspective, then there are other nations who have gone ahead and played day/night Tests with some excellent results. They drew a large attendance. The ICC I believe has come up with a statement that all of us need to sit together to work out a system to save Test cricket. One of the suggestions was to have day-night Tests."
On his session with the domestic captains and coaches in the presence of Chairman of Selectors MSK Prasad Saba replied saying " His focus wasn’t on the Indian team’s requirements. It was more about how to preserve our pacers. In the last couple of years or so, the team management has done well to preserve four-five of our top pacers. That’s why we haven’t had too many injuries. That’s what he (Prasad) is asking from coaches and captains at the state level. We’ve seen in the past that young speedsters sometimes clock about 140-150. However, once they play the entire season, there’s a possibility of a burnout. So, in order to avoid that, it’s important to monitor their workload."
He next commented on the new domestic plan set to be applied from next Ranji trophy season. He said " From next season, we’ll have the Ranji knockouts on a home and away system. This format was much appreciated at the conclave by both the captains and coaches. This was because of the excellent job done by the (neutral) curators across venues. We want do away with the concept of neutral venues. We want more people to come and watch domestic cricket. There is a strategic move, one can say, to get the state associations on board, so that they are able to publicize domestic events and get more and more people on the ground.".
Further, he went to reveal plans regarding India A tours saying " We plan to have India A ‘shadowing’ the Indian team. We want India A to travel to the same country where the Indian team is supposed to tour later so that some of our players can get acclimatized to the conditions".
He rounded up his interaction highlighting if BCCI will keep to Rahul Dravid's idea of allowing U19 cricketers to play just one world cup. He concluded saying " Everyone in the ICC has appreciated us on the issue that India is the only country in the world that allows players to play just one World Cup. It helps more and more players to come through. That is why you see such a healthy state of junior cricket in India".
