Gambhir urges Kohli to play Pink Ball Test in Australia next year

Former Indian left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir has urged skipper Virat Kohli to take on Tim Paine’s challenge of playing a Day/Night Test match Down Under when they travel to Australia in 2020. India had refused to play a Pink Ball Test against the Aussies last year at Adelaide, but Gambhir feels that Kohli should now take on the challenge face-up.

In his column for Times of India, Gambhir wrote,

“I like the way Australia skipper Tim Paine has “flighted” one for India captain Virat Kohli, challenging him to play a day-night fixture on the next tour Down Under. Knowing Virat, he is not the one to back out. And why should he?”

“A Day Night game between India and Australia at Brisbane or at the MCG will be quite a spectacle. And you can trust Aussies to make it a truly memorable game by some smart marketing. I haven’t seen Virat’s presser for Paine but if I was him, I would have straight away told him to make some late-night babysitting arrangements as we are ready!!”

The current BJP minister applauded Sourav Ganguly for making India’s first-ever Pink Ball Test such a rousing success, and also asked the BCCI chief to have a Ranji Trophy final under lights.

“I was at Eden Gardens and the Pink Ball Test was done really well by Sourav Ganguly and his team. There was just enough hype and drama around the game and I was happy to see the fans’ interest. I’d now request Dada to have a Ranji Trophy final with a pink ball.”

Over 65,000 fans flocked to Edens every day on the two and a half days that the game against Bangladesh lasted, which India eventually won by an innings’ margin. It was their fourth successive win by an innings in the longest format.

Leave a Reply