BCCI on Tuesday confirmed India would not take part in any Day-Night encounter with Australia in Adelaide on December 6.
South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) Chief Executive, Keith Bradshaw, seemed disappointed with the result of the lengthy discussions with the Indian board, which is not too keen to take part in Pink-ball cricket.
Bradshaw cited out that the event would have turned out to be a blockbuster with the Indian team playing its first Pink ball Test match against Australia.
Also, Bradshaw wanted the Indian board to contribute for the survival of Test Cricket, whose audiences are receding with the advent of franchise-based T20 cricket.
“Absolutely, they (India) have missed an opportunity. I think this would have been something for the game of cricket, there would have been a lot of interest back in India, as it plays the first day-night Test,” the SACA lynchpin told cricket.co.au.
However, Bradshaw believes the match will still pull a substantial amount of interest with Virat Kohli’s men avenging defeat from the revamped Australian side without Smith and Warner (leadership and batting mainstays).
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The last three years it’s been an unbelievable spectacle down in Adelaide with the pink ball: Nathan Lyon
“It will still be a great Test match – it will still have incredible viewership, it will still have incredible attendances, but I think a day-night Test would have been preferable,” added Bradshaw.
The records of attendances for D/N Test matches speaks volumes for themselves. The three previous day-night Tests held at Adelaide Oval saw record crowd aggregates for matches against New Zealand (45,000 more spectators over the course of the game), South Africa (55,000 more) and England (almost 200,000 more).
Even Australian spinner Nathan Lyon expressed his disappointment for the recent development of Indo-Australian cricket.
Nathan Lyon of Australia. Photo Credit: Getty Images.
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“Personally, yeah it is disappointing. The last three years it’s been an unbelievable spectacle down in Adelaide with the pink ball. We saw how good the Test match was last year against England,” recalled Nathan Lyon
“It’s disappointing, but after playing a couple of years down in South Australia, I know what the South Australian public is like and no doubt they’ll pack the stands to see a great Test match between Australia and India,” concluded Lyon.