After India played their first-ever day-night Test against Bangladesh, countries like Australia also want to have one against No. 1 ranked Test side.
The Aussies had floated the idea of playing a Day-Night Test last year during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but it was declined by India citing lack of experience.
Now after gaining the required experience, Gautam Gambhir is thrilled with the prospect of India facing Australia under floodlights Down Under.
With India scheduled to tour Australia for a four-Test series next summer, Tim Paine has already started with his off-field sledging and has asked Virat Kohli's “permission” to start the Test series in Brisbane and if possible to try and convince him to play a Day-Night Test match.
“Yeah, well, we will be certainly trying. We will have to run that by Virat (Kohli). We will get an answer from him at some stage I’m sure. That’s where we like to start our summer and it has been for a long long time except for last summer,” Paine said when asked if Australia would want to start the Border-Gavaskar series at Brisbane.
Sledging off-field? Aussie captain Tim Paine seeks Virat Kohli's 'permission' to start Test series in Brisbane
While the Indian skipper is yet to respond to Paine, Gambhir for one is excited by the idea and feels the match will be quite fascinating.
“I like the way Australia skipper Tim Paine has “flighted” one for India captain Virat Kohli, challenging him to play a day-night fixture on the next tour Down Under. Knowing Virat he is not the one to back out. And why should he? A day-night Test match between India and Australia at Brisbane or the MCG will be quite a spectacle,” Gambhir wrote in his column for Times of India.
“And you can trust Aussies to make it a truly memorable game by some smart marketing. I haven’t seen Virat’s response for Paine but if I was him I would have straight away told him to make some late-night babysitting arrangements as we were ready.”
Gambhir even expressed disappointment over Bangladesh’s lack of fight as their Test credentials possess a question mark.
“It is a no brainer to say that Bangladesh side are a work in progress in Test cricket. Overall, I think the lack of competitive cricket at first-class levels is hurting their lack of ability in the Test arena. I just feel they are concentrating too much on shorter formats. The world standards of cricket are not very healthy. Therefore the Big Daddys of the game need to support teams like Bangladesh,” Gambhir pointed out.
“We can look at helping them out by allowing a Bangladesh team play in Duleep Trophy. Or maybe a system where their top players can at least train with top first-class teams of India. International cricket won’t go anywhere if top 4-5 teams getting better while others are languishing.”
