IND v BAN | Test cricket needs this push, says Sourav Ganguly on India’s first-ever Day-Night Test
Sourav Ganguly reckons that the historic decision to organise India's first-ever Day-Night Test will provide a much-needed push to revive falling crowd interest in the longest format. India’s maiden Day-Night Test against Bangladesh will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata from November 22-26.
Less than a week into his tenure as the BCCI president and an overjoyed Ganguly has already delivered on one of his promises. With India skipper Virat Kohli and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) giving their consent to playing under lights, a historic first has been achieved — for both teams — at such short notice.
"Test cricket needs this push. Me and secretary Jay (Shah) and our new team were pretty hell-bent on it. Thanks to Virat (Kohli) also, he agreed straight away. And even more to Bangladesh Cricket Board that they agreed at such short notice. It's a good way forward," Ganguly told PTI.
"It's just my job, that's what I'm here for... Because I've played this game for so long. It's great. I think common sense is important. And I think it's a great move for Test cricket and hopefully, it will bring crowds back to the ground. Things change like this. I think it's a great start for Test cricket in the subcontinent. Our intentions have been good. It's going to be no problem at all. Everything will be fine, don't worry," Ganguly said.
It wasn't an easy job for the former captain as it took a lot of backchannel talks to convince the BCB. In the end, it will go down as part of Ganguly’s legacy at the helm of Indian cricket, even if his tenure ends in 10 months. Ganguly further clarified that BCCI will persist with 'SG Test' pink balls instead of Dukes or Kookaburra.
"Hopefully SG...Because the first match will be with SG so the second Test will also have to be with SG. It can't be because the series has to be played with the same ball. It can't be two different balls in the same series," he said.
Ganguly reckons that the ban on Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won’t cause the team too much of a problem with the new conditions.
"I don't think it's going to be a problem. They have such quality players they would adjust easily," Ganguly sounded confident that the match won't lose its competitive flavour without Shakib,” Ganguly added.
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