An India-Australia day-night Test would be quite the spectacle, says Gautam Gambhir

India completed a thorough demolition of their neighbours Bangladesh, finishing off the historic pink Test at the Eden Gardens in a little more than three days time. But things may not be quite so straightforward if Virat Kohli and Co. accept Australian captain Tim Paine’s challenge to play a day-night encounter when the Men in Blue tour Australia for a four-match Test series in November next year. 

"I like the way Australia skipper Tim Paine has "flighted" one for India captain Virat Kohli, challenging him to play a day-night fixture on the next tour Down Under. Knowing Virat he is not the one to back out. And why should he? A day-night Test match between India and Australia at Brisbane or the MCG will be quite a spectacle,” Gambhir wrote in his column for TOI.

Very few expected Mominul Haque and his men to upset India on their home soil. But according to Gambhir, the manner of their defeats — both inside three days and by an innings-margin — is an alarm bell for the bigger nations to help improve the overall standard of cricket worldwide.

"I just feel they are concentrating too much on shorter formats. The world standards of cricket are not very healthy. Therefore the Big Daddys of the game needs to support teams like Bangladesh,” Gambhir wrote. 

“We can look at helping them out by allowing a Bangladesh team play in Duleep Trophy. Or maybe a system where their top players can at least train with top first-class teams of India. International cricket won't go anywhere if top 4-5 teams getting better while others are languishing," he continued.

The former Indian opener also commended Sourav Ganguly for putting together a cricketing festival in Kolkata in such a short notice but had a suggestion regarding the development of pink-ball cricket as well. 

"I was at Eden Gardens and the Pink Ball Test was done really well by Sourav Ganguly and his team. There was just enough hype and drama around the game. I was happy to see that fans' interest was not compromised. I'd now request Dada to have a Ranji Trophy final with a pink ball," Gambhir added.