The BCCI may have ruled out playing a day-night Test when the Indian team tours Australia, later, in 2018, but former captain Sourav Ganguly on Thursday termed the pink-ball contest as the future of cricket, which the country will have to embrace some day.
“Day/Night Test is the way forward. Every country has to play Day-Night Test. India has reservations, but that’s a long-term future for Test cricket,” Ganguly said at a promotional event, here.
India is one of the only two current Test-playing nations to have avoided playing pink-ball cricket at the International level, with Bangladesh being the other. However, Ganguly said that the Indian team has the potential to win a day/night Test.
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“They (Indian side) are a good side, they will win D/N Test matches also. It’s just a different ball, I don’t think there’s any other difference. And they have such class players, they can win,” he said at an awareness campaign with health drink ‘Complan’.
Ganguly also backed the Indian captain Virat Kohli’s decision to skip the historic Test against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, in June. “I think since the side is Afghanistan, he has chosen to play county. If it would have been any other team, he would not have gone. It just shows how important the England tour is for him. I have always maintained, a captain’s recognition is how well he and his team does overseas. As a captain, he wants to win (in England), so that is the reason (he has gone to play county),” said Ganguly.
Ganguly said that India is good enough to beat Afghanistan minus Kohli. “India will still beat Afghanistan without Virat. And hopefully, they can do well in England also.”
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Ajinkya Rahane has been given the responsibility to lead the Test side against Afghanistan, but he does not find a place in ODI and T20I squads for the tour of England.
“I am surprised Rahane is not in the team. He should have been in the team. He has been moved around too much, he is a quality player,” Ganguly said.
He also spoke about IPL and said that Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) play-off hopes are all but over after its crushing 102-run defeat to Mumbai Indians (MI) on Wednesday night.
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“I don’t think they will make it (to playoffs) this time. Hopefully, next season. KKR, Mumbai have three matches to go. Ultimately, they will have to fight for the fourth place. Batting has been a bit of a problem,” the former India captain said.
Ishan Kishan’s 21-ball 62 has been the talk of the town in MI’s big win against KKR and Ganguly said that the wicketkeeper-batsman has a long way to go.
“You just don’t get 21-ball 62 overnight against a good bowling attack. He is talented, but one performance in T20 does not make you a fantastic player. Undoubtedly, he is talented, but I hope he becomes consistent as he goes ahead.”
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