‘India hope to win, so avoiding D/N Test’
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said India’s refusal to play a daynight Test during the series later this year is driven by a desperation to win Down Under.
Sutherland feels that it is CA’s prerogative to decide on the pink ball Test against India at Adelaide from December 6-10 but BCCI Committee of Administrators’ chief Vinod Rai once again made it clear that the game will not take place. “I think personally the home country should have the right to schedule matches as it sees fit and start them at whatever time of day they want,” Sutherland told SEN Radio.
When CoA chief Rai was contacted, he said: “I don’t think BCCI’s stand will change. As it has already been decided, Daynight pink ball matches will continue at the first-class level. Duleep Trophy will be played under lights once again.”
Rai, however, said that India’s reluctance to play Day/Night Test does not imply that the two boards are on collision course.
“I don’t see this as a reason for friction. Playing condition is something that both the boards sit and decide upon. But let me make it clear once again, there won’t be any pink ball Test involving India,” Rai said.
Sutherland said: “India may or may not come around to that idea for this tour. To be frank, I think they want to come here and beat us. There’s a sense, or a reality, that Australia has won each of the pink-ball Tests and there may be a sense that it gives us a bit of an advantage.” The Indian cricket establishment is reportedly dithering over playing the pink-ball, day-night Test Down Under in the series scheduled later this year, which has Cricket Australia at sixes and sevens.
Since the first day-night Test was played in Adelaide against New Zealand in late 2015, it has become a marquee event in Australia’s cricket calendar. Cancelling this match would affect gate receipts, sponsorship et al, so their distress is understandable.
What explains India’s sudden uncompromising position? Unconfirmed stories suggest that the team management is apprehensive