Introduce ODI wide-ball rule to make Tests interesting: Gavaskar
PUNE:Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes Virat Kohli’s Test side, now on a winning spree at home, is capable of consistently winning away from home as well.
“I hope they (India) keep the winning momentum going. This team has certainly got the capability to win in any condition,” Gavaskar said. “I like the team’s attitude. The belief they have in each other is excellent. The current team is being able to do what we haven’t. We couldn’t close out series 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, or those margins. This team has been consistently doing that.” He was speaking at Sportale, a sport-themed literary festival on Wednesday.
Sunil Gavaskar, whose autobiography ‘Sunny Days’ completed 40 years, was in conversation with former India batsman VVS Laxman. Sunil Gavaskar, the first to score 10,000 Test runs, said the only reason he didn’t launch a second edition was because he feared it would prove to be a “nuclear bomb”.
The former skipper called for changes in Test cricket to increase popularity. “Test cricket has its own charm…To make it a bit more compact, I would want to bring in the ODI wide ball rule in Test cricket. Not down the leg-side, but certainly on the off-side. I would like to see that line drawn so that negative bowling can be stopped.”
He backed playing more pinkball Tests. “Where there is no dew factor, it will be a terrific day-night cricket. The pink ball apparently, those who have played with it, believe it can be seen well, it lasts for 60-70 overs. But there should be no dew, else it takes the bowler out of the game for the last three hours.”
Gavaskar’s highest Test score of 236, against West Indies in Chennai in 1983, came after he had dropped to No 4. “A lot of people wondered why I wanted to bat at No 4. Viswanath had been dropped from the team and I had to stand in the slips. After a while it started to take a toll on me and it hampered my concentration.”
However, in the Chennai Test, Malcolm Marshall removed Anshuman Gaekwad off the fourth ball and Dilip Vengsarkar off the next delivery. As Gavaskar walked in to face the hattrick ball, Marshall joked: “Hey Sunny, no matter what number you bat at man, the score is still zero’.”