Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, believes that Test matches should be played at as many locations as possible throughout the nation in an apparent rebuttal to Virat Kohli’s notion. In 2019, Kohli had proposed that Test cricket be restricted to five large cities, using Australia as an example. But, Kohli’s remarks have since come to light again as a result of the third Test match between India and Australia having to be moved from Dharamshala to Indore due to unsafe field conditions at the HPCA Stadium.
“We’ve been discussing this for a long time now, and in my opinion, we should have five Test centres, period. I mean, I agree (with) state associations and rotation and giving games and all that, that is fine for T20 and one-day cricket, but Test cricket, teams coming to India should know, ‘we’re going to play at these five centres, these are the pitches we’re going to expect, these are the kind of people that will come to watch, crowds’,” Kohli had said.
However, on the eve of the third Test, Rohit said that Test cricket should be taken to maximum venues across the country. “If you want to promote Test cricket, it should be played in every part of the country and not restrict it to just a handful of big centres. I’m pretty pleased that Test cricket is being played in placed like Dharamshala and Indore. I am just happy that we have been able to take cricket to all parts of the country,” Rohit said on the eve of the third Test.
To further back his claim, Rohit said that big centres don’t attract huge crowd for Test matches. “All the Test centres we have played in since COVID-19, the crowd has been decent. Delhi, surprisingly, had superb crowd. We are not used to seeing huge crowd at big centres. So, Test cricket should be played everywhere,” he explained. The third Test starts on Wednesday, March 1.