Despite India’s dominance in the Test series and despite the fact that Virat Kohli and company are ranked number 1 in the world, the series against South Africa was poorly attended. There is a growing concern as far as the health of Test cricket is concerned, the Indian captain, who has always been a big advocate of the format, offered to push a solution to pull more crowds in India.
“In my opinion, we should have 5 strong Test centres. In Test cricket, teams coming into India should know that they are going to play at these 5 centres, these are the pitches and crowds to expect. It can’t be sporadic and spread over so many places,” Kohli told reporters at the end of the 3rd Test.
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All the three venues which were used for this Test series are new grounds and hence, there was no real attendance which could well prompt the BCCI to sit up and take notice. And as Kohli said, England and Australia, where crowds still throng to watch Test cricket, have identified specific venues for the longest format.
Reflecting on the performance of his side, the captain lauded the efforts of all his players for chipping in at different times and for being multi-dimensional in their approach. This sentiment was echoed by Ravi Shastri who too said that different players chipped in and that it was a complete team effort.
{{/usCountry}}Reflecting on the performance of his side, the captain lauded the efforts of all his players for chipping in at different times and for being multi-dimensional in their approach. This sentiment was echoed by Ravi Shastri who too said that different players chipped in and that it was a complete team effort.
{{/usCountry}}“It is a team effort. Normally, in India you have two players hogging the limelight. But in this series, everyone chipped in. That is what you want,” said Shastri after the conclusion of the Test.
Shastri also heaped praise on Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane who scored brilliant tons in the Ranchi Test and helped the team declare their first innings for 497/9.