The Test match at the Eden Gardens, despite its brief duration, was a tremendous success, a rarity in the times of cricket being sold and bought as a sledge-hammer instant experience. What makes the Indian experiment with Day-Night Tests a resounding success is the number of people who turned up to watch the match. Not in many, many years has one seen people in thousands turn up to watch a five-day game. There were more than 10,000 people watching even on the third morning when the Test was more or less over and an Indian victory certain.
This is a throwback in time, when the Indian crowd would fill the stadiums, regardless of the strength of the opposition, the quality of the contest and the result of the match. Sourav Ganguly needs to be complimented for the alacrity he showed in implementing his desire to play a day-night game with extra props thrown in to create a template for Test cricket’s rejuvenation in the country.
However, many questions remain and an answer to those would decide whether the “Pink Ball” revolution is here to stay or will it wither away. Will this end up as a one-time gimmick that attracted the audiences for the novelty of the concept or are we witness to another major shift in cricket’s constant search for finding a balance from the barrage of assaults being made on its traditional skills?
How long is too long and short too short is something which cricket has been grappling with right from the inception of the game. From timeless Tests to a 10-over contest, cricket has seen titanic shifts and oscillated from one extreme to the other to draw greater audiences, create a bigger impact and a brand which woos the market just like the consumer products industry does.
The shrinking number of spectators for the longer format has been the reason for these shifts, which are forcing changes in the game that lay premium on instant results rather than nuanced skills that require time to unfold. The beauty of slowness which plays around and even indulges time to create an absorbing contest to nourish your senses, is antithetical to the modern temperament. Speed now is the essence of life that makes less demands on the attention span of the spectators. The shorter formats cater to these needs, resulting in the fear that Test cricket could become extinct, a museum relic in the near future.
The good sign is that its main stakeholders are concerned that the format, that gives them maximum satisfaction and a wider platform to express their sophisticated skills, needs to be preserved. Indian captain Virat Kohli, leading one of the best Test teams ever to have represented the country, is its biggest votary and is pushing to create props around Tests that could help draw spectators back to the ground. Ganguly, now the BCCI president, has shown he cares for the format that made him one of the most admired cricketers of our times and promptly pushed for the Day-Night Test that saw the Eden overflowing with people.
As they say, one swallow does not make a summer, this experiment could well be a mirage in a long, looming summer drought. Day-Night cricket has many issues and in India even more, given the longer nights, cold weather, the dew factor and the pink ball itself, that most players find difficult to sight. Kohli may have agreed to play at night against a poor opposition like Bangladesh, but will he take that risk against stronger teams? The fear of losing home advantage could make him say no and even not agree in doing so while playing in foreign countries. More importantly, whether played in the day or at night, if Test cricket is not competitive and is played on wickets that produce one-sided matches, why would people watch them?
What keeps the interest alive is the delicate balance between the bat and the ball that stretches like a snakes and ladder game heading towards its final tense moments. Nothing can be more riveting and suspenseful than watching a perfect Test match. It is fine to play in challenging and different conditions but in the long run Test cricket, apart from better marketing, needs the life-saving oxygen of thrilling close contests spread over five days and not boring draws or the choking dominance of one team over the other.