Day-night matches have helped rejuvenate cricket’s longest format but Test cricket should not be bound by the latest trends and must instead focus on the battle of wills between batsman and bowler, according to India captain Virat Kohli.
India have been the only major full-member nation not to have played a day-night Test, a concept which pundits say will help address dwindling attendance in most test venues.
Kohli’s men will finally take the pink-ball plunge on Friday at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens against a Bangladesh team who will also be playing their maiden day- night Test.
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Kohli is all for innovation but dreads the idea of twisting Test cricket to pander to popular tastes.
“In my opinion, this should not become the only way Test cricket is played,” he told reporters ahead of the second and final Test against Bangladesh.
“Because then you are losing out on that nervousness of the first session in the morning.
“You can bring excitement into Test cricket but you can’t purely make Test cricket based on just entertainment.
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“Entertainment of Test cricket lies in the fact that a batsman is trying to survive a session and the bowler is trying to set a batsman out. If people don’t respond to that, too bad.”
Not every fan will appreciate the nuances of the longest format and it would be futile to try to convert them, he said.
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“If someone gets excitement from watching the battle between bat and ball and a great session of Test cricket, in my opinion those are the people that should come and watch Test cricket because they understand what’s going on.”
“I think (day-night Tests) can be a one-off thing, it should not be a regular scenario.”
