India should have only five Test centres - Virat Kohli

[cricketfan28]

Visionary.

[Nikhil_cric]

5 hours ago, Gollum said:

No...I meant 10 test venues. Not possible to play 10 home tests every season, we can realistically (and should aim to) play somewhere in the 6-8 range. 4-5 for those events (to develop into traditions in the future) we were talking about coinciding with festivals, remaining can be rotated among the other venues. This way over 2 home seasons all those 10 venues will be covered at least once. We need to forget about hosting tests in venues other than this chosen 10. 

Only England plays 7 home tests every season. I don't think we can play 6-8 every home season. However, we should avoid playing 13 tests in a season like we did in the 2016/17 season which was ridiculous. And then , on the flip side, we had only two home tests last season. I think our home season should have 5 tests with two teams touring  , extended to 6 when one of the teams is England/Australia. 

[Nikhil_cric]

5 hours ago, putrevus said:

India should start playing day/night tests.It also should have fixed tests like Pongal, Diwali and Dussehra  tests. Dussera should be first test of the season and Pongal can be last test of the season. They can make three tests as iconic tests and make sure they have it every year in a calendar.

 

Dussera test should be at Kolkatta, Diwali test should be at Mumbai and Pongal test should Chennai. So these three tests should  be on calendar every year.

 

Visting teams will also know the schedule , since these will be holidays crowds also will be good.

D/N tests might negate our spin advantage because of dew. Also , I think they have got positive responses only in Australia. 

[Gollum]

6 hours ago, vice said:

Mohali has been India's fortress in Tests.  Some great test victories for India.  Probably had the best W/L record or atleast one of the best.  But crowd has been poor though most of the times.  That might change with the new stadium being built closer to the city.

That is what I was saying, good test cricket there but sparse crowds & lack of buzz make it embarrassing to watch, when Sachin passed Lara's tally there were 100-200 spectators in the crowd apart from the groundsmen and media teams. Nagpur, Pune have the same problem, being 40-50 km away in the outskirts doesn't help. Crowds should dictate who should host the matches, 2nd time Pune and Ranchi have hosted tests since 2017...again before empty crowds. Traditional centres like Mumbai and Chennai haven't hosted since 2016 (where both saw high % attendance)....I don't understand this rotation policy. 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Gollum

[Sandeep99]

Only play at -

 

Mumbai

Chennai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Hyderabad

Chandigarh

[rkt.india]

11 hours ago, sandeep said:

10 home tests every year is unlikely - who will we play against - Keep in mind its always reciprocal - we can't expect teams to come and play against us if we don't give them the same number of games away.   The annual calendar for cricket is filling up fast, and the battles are being fought in the ICC boardrooms.   IPL already has a de facto window.  I wouldn't be surprised if BBL and the "100" go in a similar direction.  Add to that, ODI and T20 bilateral series.  How much room is there on the calendar?   

 

This is the primary reason why the ICC just announced yet another ICC owned tournament and pushed it through against BCCI objections.

No team plays 10 home tests a year. England and Aus both play six. We should play six or five as well. So five-six venues are good. We play October-november and feb-March.

[rkt.india]

11 hours ago, putrevus said:

India should start playing day/night tests.It also should have fixed tests like Pongal, Diwali and Dussehra  tests. Dussera should be first test of the season and Pongal can be last test of the season. They can make three tests as iconic tests and make sure they have it every year in a calendar.

 

Dussera test should be at Kolkatta, Diwali test should be at Mumbai and Pongal test should Chennai. So these three tests should  be on calendar every year.

 

Visting teams will also know the schedule , since these will be holidays crowds also will be good.

And Holi test at Dharmshala.

[Norman]

5 is too small a number. Make that 8. 

 

Mumbai - Chennai -  Kolkata - Hyderabad Bangalore - Rajkot - Kanpur - Mohali 

 

And please standardise the home season like England and Australia. Divide it into two phases - Oct-Nov and Feb-March. 

[ShoonyaSifar]

If the purpose is to see more crowd in the stands, BCCI needs to look at how pathetically it engages with the cricket fans n general and particularly at those Test centres. Run proper marketing campaigns, offer cheaper tickets, make buying tickets a more simpler process, have better logistics and transport arrangements for the fans to get to the stadium and go back..long list of things they can do to have more people coming in.

 

Having international cricket at smaller centre’s is a great policy and must continue. For a cricket mad nation of our size, restricting tests to just 5 big cities will be unfair and will hurt the growth of the sport in traditionally non-cricket states.

[Gollum]

14 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Only England plays 7 home tests every season. I don't think we can play 6-8 every home season. However, we should avoid playing 13 tests in a season like we did in the 2016/17 season which was ridiculous. And then , on the flip side, we had only two home tests last season. I think our home season should have 5 tests with two teams touring  , extended to 6 when one of the teams is England/Australia. 

6-8 is possible

Play 5 test series with Eng and 4 against Aus, min test series length should be 2.

Divide into 2 parts, Oct-Dec mein ek series, Jan-March mein doosra. Of course there will be ODIs/T20s so have to fit then in and plan accordingly.

5+3, 5+2, 4+3, 4+2, 3+3....easily 6-8 possible. Since we don't play Pak, we have to play against 8 teams over a 4 year cycle, so 2 series every year, perfect fit.

Something like:

Year 1: Eng, BD, 5+2=7

Year 2: Aus, Afg 4+2=6...need to help the Afghan lads

Year 3: NZ, Lanka, 3+3=6

Year 4: RSA, WI, 3+3=6

Repeat...Let one of the SENA teams tour here annually, second series we can adjust. That is what Australia does...Eng, Ind, RSA, NZ are the fulcrum of their home season getting Boxing Day and New Year's tests, some other lesser team fills the remaining part like how Lanka did earlier this year (after India-Aus series) and how Pak will do next month (before Aus-NZ series). 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Gollum

[carnish]

On 10/23/2019 at 11:03 PM, Norman said:

5 is too small a number. Make that 8. 

 

Mumbai - Chennai -  Kolkata - Hyderabad Bangalore - Rajkot - Kanpur - Mohali 

 

And please standardise the home season like England and Australia. Divide it into two phases - Oct-Nov and Feb-March. 

This .. I strongly agree with this 

 

We can divide our season and invite 3 teams every year and this will also be accommodating of the calendars in the Southern Hemisphere where we can tour in Dec-Jan

 

We can have the likes of NZ-SAF-AUS-ENG touring in FEB-MAR towards the end of the season where pitches may be a little more dry (This can have 4 tests) whereas teams like SL-WI-Ban-Afg-Zim-Ire can be invited in Oct-Nov (This should have 4 tests meaning 2 teams for 2 tests each)

 

The Oct-Nov session can include the Dussehra and Diwali tests while the Feb-March season can have the Holi tests. I know people would be more excited to see the bigger teams during the holiday season but makes more sense to get them during end of season and exploit their weakness against spin. 

 

 

[carnish]

On 10/24/2019 at 5:55 AM, ShoonyaSifar said:

If the purpose is to see more crowd in the stands, BCCI needs to look at how pathetically it engages with the cricket fans n general and particularly at those Test centres. Run proper marketing campaigns, offer cheaper tickets, make buying tickets a more simpler process, have better logistics and transport arrangements for the fans to get to the stadium and go back..long list of things they can do to have more people coming in.

 

Having international cricket at smaller centre’s is a great policy and must continue. For a cricket mad nation of our size, restricting tests to just 5 big cities will be unfair and will hurt the growth of the sport in traditionally non-cricket states.

Ticketing at general has been left to State Associations which makes it highly difficult to figure out how to but unless you can go to the ground and buy them. There should be a single online ticketing partner and especially for tests, all tickets should be available online for purchase. Marketing campaigns by broadcasters and state associations should including ticketing information too. 

[carnish]

On 10/24/2019 at 6:10 AM, Gollum said:

6-8 is possible

Play 5 test series with Eng and 4 against Aus, min test series length should be 2.

Divide into 2 parts, Oct-Dec mein ek series, Jan-March mein doosra. Of course there will be ODIs/T20s so have to fit then in and plan accordingly.

5+3, 5+2, 4+3, 4+2, 3+3....easily 6-8 possible. Since we don't play Pak, we have to play against 8 teams over a 4 year cycle, so 2 series every year, perfect fit.

Something like:

Year 1: Eng, BD, 5+2=7

Year 2: Aus, Afg 4+2=6...need to help the Afghan lads

Year 3: NZ, Lanka, 3+3=6

Year 4: RSA, WI, 3+3=6

Repeat...Let one of the SENA teams tour here annually, second series we can adjust. That is what Australia does...Eng, Ind, RSA, NZ are the fulcrum of their home season getting Boxing Day and New Year's tests, some other lesser team fills the remaining part like how Lanka did earlier this year (after India-Aus series) and how Pak will do next month (before Aus-NZ series). 

I would go 4 + 3 = 7 in the RSA - BD cycle and make ENG-WI cycle to be 7 tests too by having 4 + 3 ... 5 match test series is overkill

 

and the seasons having 6 can have additional 1 test match series for Ireland and Zimbabwe so that we don't discriminate like how Aussies have been doing .. Unless lesser teams are given opportunities, they would not improve

 

 

 

 

[cowboysfan]

no on Mohali,the whole point of this is to make sure the crowds come and people there have made it clear they dont care about it.

 

I would go with Chennia,mumbai,bangalore,kolkatta and Delhi(not during smog season). 

[kirkutfan]

On 10/24/2019 at 3:46 AM, sarchasm said:

Why does this motherbitch Kohli feel obliged to insert his brain dead opinions where it's not needed?

 

I mean, take away his batting talent and he's just your repugnant loudmouth punjabi from west delhi.

 

 

Maybe to make little babies like you cry. You probably can’t even play gully danda and you spout off. But India’s best batsman and the team ‘s captain, who plays the sport for a living, can’t have an opinion?

[Straight Drive]

Don't actually like his idea. Need to play tests at other cities too so that fans living in other cities can catch up live action.

[Khota]

More pressing need is India should have 3 captains.

[Real McCoy]

For a change, I agree with Kohli on this but shouldn't restrict it to 5 centres. Should have these centres hosting a test every season and have 3-4 additional centres for a test every other season. I think what Kohli means is have traditional test venues where there is more crowd watching IN the stadium and contribute to the atmosphere than what we witnessed this series. These stadiums have history which should be appreciated like how Aus and Eng appreciate theirs.

@Gollum I agree on Chennai getting a test in pongal time. We have 4 days holiday during that time. Also Chennai is only somewhat pleasant in Dec and Jan. Feb is ok and by March it gets hot and sticky. In terms of crowd support Chennai and Bangalore are very good. I would also advise that BCCI reduce prices for test matches since they already make up for it in IPL. They should not get greedy and promote test matches which is the backbone of all cricket. Kolkata used to be no.1 when it comes to crowd support but since renovation, they restricted the number of seats, and it has lost its shine.

Still remember the Aus series in 2001 when the crowd was electric. By that time, 1 lakh people was the seat capacity with additional seats accomodated when Laxman and Dravid were on. I remember seeing a cop celebrate Indian victory. He was like "screw watching the public, I'm watching the game and on live tv"   I went to the next test in Chennai on day 3 where Sachin scored his century on his fav ground. We were sitting square off the wicket. Sachin hit a six over midwicket towards us and square leg on the other side. That day Dravid was more attacking than Sachin. I remember Dravid hitting Gillespie over long on for six immediately after tea. Great times

[cowboysfan]

5 hours ago, Straight Drive said:

Don't actually like his idea. Need to play tests at other cities too so that fans living in other cities can catch up live action.

so far fans dont turn to watch Test cricket in ANY small cities,the visual on cameras and live broadcasts is dismal to say the least.

[Straight Drive]

1 hour ago, cowboysfan said:

so far fans dont turn to watch Test cricket in ANY small cities,the visual on cameras and live broadcasts is dismal to say the least.

It's about spreading the game of cricket further. Surely the super cash rich BCCI can reduce the tickets to half so that the fan participation can be drastically increased.