Questions over facilities at Kanpur shouldn’t push BCCI to prune list of Test venues

All these ringing true, but choosing those cities — 5 arsenic Kohli believes— is simply a analyzable exercise. The archetypal occupation is definition. The favoritism betwixt accepted and non-traditional cricketing centres is vague. There are recently sprung Test hubs specified arsenic Ranchi and Dharamshala, places wherever cricket civilization was erstwhile either non-existent oregon existed connected the periphery. But astir of the centres which big Test matches, adjacent non-metros, tin brag astir a vibrant cricket heritage. Rajkot, for instance, is conscionable a breezy thrust connected the sprawling road to Jamnagar, the birthplace of the legendary Ranjitsinhji and Duleepsinhji. Saurashtra could tract arsenic formidable an all-time playing eleven arsenic home powerhouses Mumbai. Or Indore, which was erstwhile the office of the Holkar dynasty. Before the Holkar squad was disbanded, it had won 5 Ranji Trophy titles, 1 much than Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu combined. Visakhapatnam, and Gwalior, cities which are remnants of the game’s royal patronage, tin besides assertion to person inherited a affluent tradition.

If infrastructure is simply a criterion, arsenic it should be, immoderate of the caller stadiums could marque the supposedly accepted ones blush. The signifier facilities successful Ranchi are much modern than the Eden Gardens and the stands successful Indore connection a amended lucifer acquisition than the creaky integrative chairs and the stinking toilets of Feroze Shah Kotla. If attendance is simply a yardstick, the stands successful the second-tier cities are arsenic filled, if not better, than the alleged mainstream locations. All 3 days of the Test betwixt India and Australia successful Indore ran to a astir afloat house. Thousands turned up connected the ill-fated 3rd time of the Kanpur Test. Besides, each of these cities are air-connected and dotted with five-star hotels.

It would beryllium cruel to confine the crippled to a fistful of arenas. It could, arsenic Ashwin weighed the pros and cons of circumstantial centres, make a disconnect for fledgling cricketers, astatine a clip erstwhile cricket has blurred geographical barriers. It could muddy the representation that cricket is the country’s top unifier, bounds the divers experiences offered by the state and homogenise the chiseled colours, sounds and cuisine the cricketing destinations offer.

At the aforesaid time, the committee should guarantee that occurrence similar what happened connected the 3rd time successful Kanpur is not repeated. An full day’s cricket cannot beryllium scrapped conscionable due to the fact that the drainage facilities are sloppy. It is akin to insulting the teams, the assemblage and the game. Before allotting a venue, the calendar-makers should measurement successful respective factors, from the upwind to the authorities of the outfield and adjacent the delicate socio-cultural equations. A lucifer should not unit a metropolis to contented prohibitory orders. It takes distant from the amusive of watching the crippled and it creates uneasiness among cricketers. The BCCI, the astir almighty committee successful the world, should onslaught a equilibrium betwixt preserving the cricketing acquisition arsenic good arsenic providing the champion conditions for players and spectators. Taking cricket retired of smaller cities is not the cleanable solution, but creating an perfect situation for a crippled to tally its afloat people of beingness surely should be.

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