The South Africa series last month didn’t attract many spectators, and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly felt that there needed to be a change. To draw spectators back in droves, he organized India’s first Day/Night Test, at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens against Bangladesh on November 22nd.
“That’s the way forward. Test cricket needed a rejuvenation.” Ganguly said, after the tickets for the first three days of the match were sold out. “It happens all around the world. Somewhere it had to start. India is the biggest country in terms of cricket. I think that rejuvenation was important.”
Filling the 65,000 seater Eden Gardens to capacity was satisfying, the former India captain, said. More so even than successfully organizing the India-Pakistan World Twenty20 game in 2016, after it had been moved out of Dharamsala at short notice.
Speaking of current captain Virat Kohli, Ganguly said, “He is a great player, and he should be playing in front of a packed house … You can’t have the greats of Indian cricket play in front of empty stands.”
