Questions galore as Pune throws up yet another low spectator turn-out
The 2017 Bengaluru Test between India and Australia was one for the ages. It was cricket in its purest form, two high-quality teams battling out in the middle neck to neck, and two of the sport’s all-time batsmen had been under each other’s skins for reasons not only cricket.
The story of the Bangalore Test will be for generations to go back and marvel at. When Steve Smith swept Ravichandran Ashwin, at the top of prowess in the home conditions, for a four through square leg, it was the ultimate platonic ideal for a cricket fan. The entire stadium was silent, with occasional oohs and aahs as the ball raced to the boundary but as soon as Ravindra Jadeja induced an edge to send Smith back to the hut, they erupted in unison. It was a Test match that yielded joy like very few could.
Fast forward to 2019, Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The venue is hosting its second-ever Test match, with the first one being against Australia in the same 2017 series. With Bangalore waiting to host another big-ticket Test match ever since Pune is hosting its second, and honestly, it is not the point of argument.
Getting my opinion straight - Pune doesn’t deserve to host a Test match. With a crowd of barely 500, Pune showed that hosting a Test match is not a cup of tea for them. There is no overhead roof to protect the spectators from the heavy sunlight that was coming through, and if it rains, like it did last night in entire Pune city, fans have no other way than running away from the venue. To make matters worse, the stadium is located at Gahunje, 29 km away from the City Centre, and with no public transport available from the city to the stadium, things get even worse when the venue hosts a Test match.
Wander your mind back to 2017, in the Australia game, when Steve Smith was playing one faulty, yet an innings of lifeline, depending on which side of the schism you stand, there were not even 1000 people to applaud for his century. But it was the wicket that had been the talking point and the fairness to the spectators - one of the important stakeholders in Indian cricket - has gone for a toss.
Chennai, before the Municipality case that resulted in two stands being shut down completely, hasn’t hosted a Test match for three years. Delhi smog might have been the cause one shouldn’t play Test cricket there but when was the last time a venue like Mumbai, which throws up a better audience than any of the new centres, hosted a Test match? After all, it is only Eden, Chinnaswamy, Chepauk, and Mumbai are the four saving graces for the big matches in India.
We can talk about the small centres hosting Test matches being good for the sport until the cows come home but it is, as bitter as it may sound, the sad reality that preconceived notions haven’t helped the cause at all. The 2016 Test match between India and New Zealand at the Holkar Stadium in Indore broke any doubts whatsoever regarding the attendance for the entire match. It was the first Test at that venue and the excitement with which people thronged the stands, even on the practice days, created a massive hope of reviving the interest in Test cricket. But as things stand, it was a false dawn and Pune is the prime example for it.
A city in Bangalore mould often called Mini-Bangalore due to its affluent IT belt, is no more close to inciting an audience to watch a Test match between two of the top two sides in Test cricket. There were no boos, no cheers, and no applause for Kohli’s first 250 in Test cricket apart from a few from the dressing room. As said earlier, this, in no way, to put the blame on the Pune crowd rather an effort to bring the disorganised mindset by the Maharashtra Cricket Association.
One doesn’t need to stand on the rooftop and scream about the fact that India have not taken proper care of Test cricket which has also attributed to the dwindling popularity of the format. In Australia, the Boxing Day Test and the New Year Test is a celebration of sorts. People wait for that and cheer their team with full capacity. But does India have the same kind of annual events to mark any occasion?
The genuine lack of interest for the format is somehow responsible for the downfall of it. For reference, an MCC survey a decade ago regarding the viewership of Test cricket showed that only 7% of Indians preferred to watch Test cricket over the other two formats. However, 10 years later, it has seen a further decrease in average attendance for Tests.
Even though, India, with their staggering home dominance, have become one of the greatest, if not the greatest, teams at home, with the chances of them losing a Test to any opposition in the comforts of their home territory being next to impossible, it is also sad to see this dominance being taken for granted. It is rare in cricket history, and it won’t be long before the fans start ruing the fact they missed a chance to be a part of it when the Test cricket was just a few km, or meters away from their own home.
But who would take the blame for it?