The second match of the Test series between India and Bangladesh started at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. The first match of the series was held in Chennai, after which now the match is being held in Kanpur. The second Test itself started with rain and due to this only 35 overs could be played on the first day. Due to rain, Team India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first, which is rarely seen in India. The poor condition of Kanpur Stadium has also come to light during this period. These two-three incidents related to the Kanpur Test suddenly reminded us again of what former captain Virat Kohli had said exactly 5 years ago regarding the organization of Test cricket, which was ignored by the BCCI, but the truth is that The time has come to accept it. What is that thing and why is it needed, we will tell you further.

What did Virat say 5 years ago?

It is about October 2019 when the third match of the Test series was played between India and South Africa in Ranchi. Team India had easily won this match and made a clean sweep of the series 3-0. After that victory, Virat Kohli had said something which caught everyone's attention because at that time Virat was a very powerful captain and his words were heard anyway, but what he said then was rarely heard before in Indian cricket. Was found. While giving his opinion in the press conference after the victory, Virat had said that like countries like Australia, England, South Africa, 5 venues should be fixed for Test cricket in India too. He had said that with this, not only Team India but also the foreign teams will know under what conditions they are coming to play and what kind of public support they will get there.

Why is there a need to accept Virat's words?

This statement of Virat Kohli came because the Test was definitely organized in Ranchi but at that time there were not as many spectators who came to watch that Test as they come to venues like Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata. But should this be the only reason? The simple thing is that to save Test cricket, it is necessary for the spectators to be interested in it. This format will remain alive as many people watch it, but it is also true that not every city has Test cricket fans who like this format completely. In England and Australia, especially 4 or 5 venues are fixed and Test matches are played every year in these venues because fans always come to watch the matches at these venues.

Secondly, the venues are announced several months in advance, so they are prepared accordingly and fans also plan their holidays accordingly. Be it Lord's or Edgbaston in England, MCG or Gabba in Australia, fans come to watch Test cricket every year and the stadium remains almost full for four or five days. This is not the case in India, where due to having more than 2 dozen Test venues, BCCI often announces them 3-4 months before the series because it knows that if any ground is not ready on time, then it will Can be shifted somewhere else, as was done from Dharamshala to Indore during the Australia series last year. Apart from the teams, this is also injustice to the fans. A day before the start of the Kanpur Test, news came that a part of the stadium was not safe, so tickets there were not sold. If the venues were fixed then such a situation would not have arisen.

Apart from this, familiarity with the conditions is also very important and an example of this was visible on the first day of the Kanpur Test itself. Test matches have been taking place at the Green Park Stadium since 1952 but they have become less frequent over the years. Still it is believed that the pitch here is helpful for spinners. In such a situation, as always, after winning the toss, batting is chosen first because it proves to be good for batting in the beginning. But the rainy season confused the Indian captain Rohit and the management and they chose bowling first and also kept 3 fast bowlers because they thought that the cloudy sky and moisture would help the fast bowlers but it did not happen. .

Now, if Kanpur had always been a fixed Test venue and Team India had played a match here in every home season, then perhaps the team management would have known that despite conditions like rain, spin would dominate here. In such a situation, not only did he choose to bat first but he also kept 3 spinners and only 2 pacers. This means that the home team itself is unaware of the circumstances and has to suffer the consequences of this. Apart from this, the advantage of having 5-6 fixed venues would also be that the matches would be scheduled keeping in mind the weather conditions of a venue every year, due to which the game would be less affected due to rain or other reasons.

Why doesn't this idea become reality?

Now the question is whether the BCCI officials would not know this? Why doesn't BCCI do this even though there are examples around the world? There are some special reasons for this, a major reason of which is the politics of the board. In fact, more than 30 state cricket associations across the country are part of BCCI and except a few, all the others have voting rights. Now if anyone wants to gain power in BCCI, he will need the votes of these state associations. For this, some promises must have been made, in which the distribution of Team India's matches, especially the Test matches, is important. The officials holding the most important positions like President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Joint Secretary of BCCI come from different state associations and hence they make every effort to make their state association compete. This is the reason why the idea of ​​5-6 venues cannot be realized.

Apart from this, income is also required for the maintenance of the stadiums of the state associations, for which funds are received from BCCI but it also gives a separate amount for hosting any match. Till a few years ago, a fee of Rs 25 lakh was paid for hosting a Test match, Rs 15 lakh each for ODI International and T20 International. That is, the state associations do not want to miss this earning opportunity and for this they lobby the BCCI. In such a situation, efforts to fix 5-6 Test venues were never made and the way BCCI operates, it does not seem to be happening in the future.