Don't want to rush into day-night cricket, says Thakur
Anurag Thakur, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is not in a rush to bring day-night Test cricket to India, and said long-form cricket with floodlights and a pink ball could even be tried for a couple of years in domestic cricket first.
"While the world wants to experiment with day and night Tests, I don't want to do it in a hurry," said Thakur on Saturday (September 10) in Greater Noida, where he was watching the first day of the Duleep Trophy final between India Blue and India Red (LINK). "Let's try it out in domestic cricket first, for a year or two years, or in a few tournaments. We'll get feedback on how the pink ball is, the conditions are. Today we have only done it in Greater Noida, tomorrow we can try it in Himachal, Bengal, Rajasthan – in different conditions. We can find out in which season it works better, how it is for bowlers and batsmen."
India have a bumper Test season lined up with 13 matches against New Zealand, England, Australia and Bangladesh, and the BCCI had explored the possibility of having one of those as a day-night match earlier. However, it appears as if the board wants to give the concept some time before trying it in an international match in India.
The 2016-17 Duleep Trophy, the first pink-ball tournament in India, has been more dominated by bat than ball so far, but Thakur reiterated it would be worth trying the pink ball in different conditions to gauge how well it would do. He was also enthused by a sizeable crowd that had gathered in Greater Noida, with the BCCI roping in Test squad regulars such as Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Stuart Binny and Amit Mishra for the final. This was in addition to Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir already leading the two teams.
"See, in domestic cricket, there usually isn't much of a crowd. From Ranji Trophy to Duleep and Deodhar trophy, the crowds are low and it was a challenge for us," said Thakur. "So this time we thought let's get big players to play – Yuvraj Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and so on – we've also got players who played in West Indies to come and play. And they've attracted the crowds. Today's players can inspire the next generation to pick up a bat and ball and play cricket. If our domestic cricket is strong, it will make Indian cricket strong.
"For me, the cricket fan is the most important. So we want to find out what will appeal most to them to come and watch five-day cricket," continued Thakur, promising good attendance in India's home Test matches too. "I have taken this challenge on my shoulders, that in the 13 Test matches we have at home this season, I'm assuring you that every Test will have thousands of people at the ground. We will show the world that India is not only ahead of the world in making money in cricket, or in the team winning matches, but we can make it a great experience too."
Without going into specifics, Thakur also said that domestic cricket in the coming season in India would get an IPL-style fillip which would attract more fans to stadiums and ensure more earnings for players. On other plans around cricket in the country, the BCCI president said he was targetting a minimum of three tours overseas for the India Women's team, India A and India Under-19 sides.
"It is very important for our players to get international exposure. I am going to ensure at least three tours per year for women's cricket, India A and India Under-19," said Thakur. "If a player is playing in the Indian team, he should have the challenge ahead of him that 'If I perform a little badly, there are 10 others waiting to take my place'. I want to create that bench strength."
Meanwhile, as part of the outreach to have more fans tuning in to the game, Thakur said the BCCI would focus on strengthening its radio presence and adding regional language commentary. "Commentary adds a lot of colour to cricket and I would like its reach to spread, have it in regional languages," he said. "In the next two years, you'll see this happening. After all people should be able to listen to the match in Gujarat, Bengali, Tamil, etc. too. We'll make radio more powerful, and bring domestic and international cricket on radio."
