INDORE: How times change!
In 2016, when BCCI added six new Test venues to the 10 already existing, officials were of the opinion that the future of cricket lies in Tier II cities more than the metros. The big cities were not warming up to Test cricket, especially if held shortly before the IPL. With these places suffering from an overdose of cricket, the BCCI picked Rajkot, Indore, Pune, Dharamsala, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam, where they felt this format could be sold among the locals. As New Zealand, England and Australia came calling that season, fans didn’t disappoint the BCCI.
But that seems a long time ago. After a string of away assignments, Rajkot, Pune, Visakhapatnam and Ranchi have hosted four of India’s last five home Tests. Hyderabad was the only big city to stage one of those. In each of these stadiums, the crowd turnout was so poor that captain Virat Kohli proposed India’s Test venues be restricted to five. He reiterated that once again on Wednesday, ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh.
A city with a rich cricket history, Indore didn’t appear on India’s cricketing map until 2006. Although it has only hosted four ODIs and one Test, the city has already earned the reputation of being a place that attracts decent crowds.
Despite the first Test starting on a Thursday, Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) has sold nearly 12,000 season tickets (for five days, minimum price `315). In a stadium with a capacity of around 28,000, MPCA CEO Rohit Pandit expects around 18,000, which is a substantial number and enough to bring down the roofs of a stadium that is in the heart of the city, a luxury very few venues in India can boast of.
“We want to bring the fans to the stadium and that will happen only if we make it affordable. We have not quoted big money from vendors to set up stalls because that would mean food prices will go up. You need to make it affordable for the spectators and when that happens, they will turn up. Most of our tickets are below `500, which doesn’t burn a hole in their pockets. And it helps that the stadium is inside the city,” Pandit said.
Unlike many places in India, the Holkar Stadium likes its cricketers than its administrators. Each gate or stand is named after a former player, starting from CK Nayudu to Anil Kumble. Walls are decorated with portraits of cricketers, past and present. Before each IPL fixtures are finalised, there are multiple franchises who jostle to pick Indore as their second home.
A local journalist reminded Kohli how he had praised the Indore crowd for turning up in large numbers and asked why he wants the venues to be restricted to five. “Indore attracted a decent crowd but a lot of other places didn’t. And it can’t be that one stadium gets games and the others don’t. I was referring to what happens abroad, like Test matches only in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. We know what to expect, what kind of crowd we will get. People there know when to expect a match. So it was about creating that kind of culture. Indore is a kind of place where if you play a T20, you won’t find a single empty seat. In Tests too you will find them. So I think it is a deep conversation,” he said.
While restricting Tests to five venues isn’t practically possible for the BCCI, one understands that Kohli during his meeting with board president Sourav Ganguly had urged him to explore this option. The captain’s view is a reflection of the team management’s, which reckons they have to face varied conditions even at home, especially if it is a long series and spread across. It is a challenge no other team faces in their own conditions. An idea to rotate matches other than the five venues annually is being explored.
