CHENNAI: ON Saturday morning, the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati will become India's newest Test centre. Since 2000 alone, it will be the 19th different venue to play host to the longest format in the country, joining the likes of Dharamsala (HPCA), Indore (Holkar Stadium), Pune (MCA Stadium) and Visakhapatnam (ACA-VDCA) in hosting maiden long-format international games this century.
This is a renewed push by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take cricket away from the traditional strongholds of Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata. The Board should be commended for this initiative as the sport should be spread. But one of the unintended consequences of a move like this will play itself out when both India and South Africa come out for the toss on Day One.
The South African team are of course playing away from home so they will be stepping into new environs. But so will a vast majority of the Indian team, most of whom have never sampled red ball cricket in this venue. In fact, barring Mohammed Siraj no Indian player as part of the current squad has ever played a first-class match at the Stadium. (And that match Siraj played came in 2016 against Himachal Pradesh). Coach Gautam Gambhir also has some playing experience in red-ball cricket with Delhi but there's a debate to be had about whether this is the best use of home advantage?
As it is, playing in the North East is unlike any other because of the early morning starts as the Sun tends to go down fairly quickly; it's why tea will be taken first to compute for the earlier than normal start time of 9.00 AM. To legislate for that, the support staff of both teams will have to adjust elsewhere. A lighter breakfast and lunch well into the afternoon means different eating and hydration patterns.
Sure, the Barsapara Stadium has hosted Indian Premier League (IPL) and some international white-ball games under lights but they are two different sports at this level and as such cannot be compared. The red-ball tends to do a fair bit at 9.00 AM and light tends to dip sharply from around 3.15 PM but it's fair to say that both the hosts and visitors will experience this together for the first time. On R Ashwin's YouTube Channel, the retired spinner echoed the same sentiments. "Test centres is not about crowds alone," he said. "It is also about the familiarity of conditions. If we are playing a Test in Guwahati or Ranchi, I'm not against these venues as a possibility. But the problem in India is every surface as a different identity."
The idea of the men's team sticking to fixed centres isn't new. When they last played a home series against South Africa, the Tests were played in Visakhapatnam, Pune and Ranchi. Post the culmination of that series, then skipper Virat Kohli had said: "We've been discussing this for a long time now, and in my opinion we should have five Test centres. "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'.
"So that becomes a challenge already, when you're leaving your shores, because we go to any place, we know we're having four Test matches in these venues, this is what the pitch is going to offer, it's going to be a full stadium, the crowd's behind the [home] team, and look, you want to keep Test cricket alive and exciting. I totally agree with the fact that we need five Test centres at the max."
Among countries where the red-ball game is thriving, India is the only country with this so-called rotation policy. Australia, playing host to The Ashes from Friday, open with Perth with further games in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, it's their big five venues. England also have a limited number of high profile grounds locked in for big series. The Proteas generally avoid playing at Gqeberha whenever India come because the venue is slightly on the slower side and does tend to favour spinners.
So, at a time when some of the other nations look to maximise home advantage, India's rotation policy could harm the team's short term chances.