Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik during a chat© BCCI/Sportzpics
Virat Kohli's old video of 5 designated Test centres resurfaced on social media as the second Test between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur witnessed lack of action due to a damp outfield, especially on Day 3. Despite the venue not witnessing any rain on Sunday, not a single over could be possible because of the soft outfield. As frustrations grew among players and fans, Kohli's old video highlighting how India should only have 5 world-class venues for Test matches went viral. Even former India wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik spoke about the topic after the end of Day 3.
Maturity is realising that Virat Kohli was correct in 2019 when he wanted India to only have 5 World Class Test Centres. pic.twitter.com/kv62cLWhrc
— VISHU|#RETAINGREEN (@WAS_VISHU) September 29, 2024
Karthik, sharing his opinion on the topic, suggested that Test cricket has more fan following in smaller towns than Tier 1 cities.
"What happens when you nominate five centres in a place like India in Tier 1 cities, it is a fact that there has been a dwindling amount of interest in the Test format. So, even if you host a Test in one of the major centres, the fact is people are not watching Test cricket. Sometimes on TV it does not paint the right picture," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
"Kanpur is a great example. It is not a Tier 1 city, at least not a metropolitan city, so you can see people coming up in big numbers. It is not a town that has not hosted too many matches, and add to the fact that Lucknow have come in and found a way to host games. So, when a match happens in Kanpur, you can see the interest," he added.
Karthik also went on to explain how the allotment of matches across state associations works in India.
"How it works in India is that there is a rotation system. There are about 34-36 state associations, and they rotate matches whenever they get. Every association gets an opportunity to host, and it goes round and round. It has been a process that has been going around for a long time, and hence they have stuck to it," Karthik said.