BCCI president Sourav Ganguly introduced the Indian team to the day-night Test immediately after being elected for the role. India and Bangladesh played their first-ever day-night Test recently at Eden Gardens.
Speaking at the India Today conclave East, Ganguly revealed it was easy to convince India skipper Virat Kohli for the day-night Test as he was himself eagerly waiting for it happens. "I think getting the feedback from Virat Kohli was not a problem at all. He agreed immediately. He was absolutely ready for the Day-night Test," Ganguly said.
The cricket fans who have a 9-5 job find it tough to visit the stadium for the matches. Ganguly considered it and knew it was time to get India into a day-night Test. "Test cricket needs to be marketed well. Also, I feel it's about time. People do not have time to watch Test cricket in the morning. It came out from common sense," Ganguly said.
Eden Gardens got a huge response for the day-night Test. Ganguly was a bit surprised considering the opposition, Bangladesh wasn't very competitive.
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"It (Day-night Test cricket) allows people to come and watch the game. We sometimes take our supporters for granted. TV has gone to unbelievable levels. It's not easy to take people out of their offices and drawing rooms and sofas to get to the ground and watch cricket.
"Pink-ball cricket is the flush. It cannot replace the red-ball Test matches which start at 9.30 AM. I did not expect 70,000 to be there at the Eden Gardens every day," he said.
Ganguly, however, doesn't want Team India to play two day-night Test matches down under. Reports suggested Cricket Australia may organize two pink-ball Tests for India, but the BCCI president hasn't heard anything from them yet.
"Whether India go to play 2 Day-night Tests in Australia is not assured. 2 out of 4 would be a bit too much with the pink ball. We will assess it. I read it in the newspapers this morning. I haven't heard anything from the Australian Cricket Board. We will deal with it as it comes," Ganguly said.
(With India Today Inputs)
