Gautam Gambhir reacts to Tim Paine's request to Virat Kohli
Soon after Australia extended their unbeaten streak at the Gabba that stretches back to 1988, with a win against Pakistan last week, skipper Tim Paine wanted Indian skipper Virat Kohli to take note of it. He soon expressed his interest in playing a pink-ball Test against the No.1 ranked Test side. On Thursday, former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir reacted to the same while admitting that such a clash would be a quite a spectacle.
"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 Test match between India and Australia at Brisbane or 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 response for Paine but if I was him I would have straight away told him to make some late night baby-sitting arrangements as we were ready!!!" he wrote his column for Times of India.
Earlier last week, Kohli too responded to Paine's request saying that India are "open to anything" to take Test cricket forward provided they are given appropriate time to prepare for the clash.
"There has to be planning for a pink-ball game," Kohli said. "We're playing in home conditions, but if you ask the Bangladesh team, they'd have also liked a practice game. Because we know our conditions and the bowlers are really bowling well, so we don't really feel the challenge or the things that are different about pink-ball cricket. Maybe when we play away from home we will figure out what could be even more difficult while playing with the pink ball. I think with a good practice game before that and enough time to prepare, we're open to doing anything. You can't just play it on short notice, like I mentioned last time."
The two sides were said to play a day-night Test at the Adelaide with Cricket Australia proposing the request, but BCCI had turned it down. Talking about the same, Kohli said the decision was "more of a spontaneous plan" and not something that the No.1 Test team could have prepared for.
India and Australia will be up against each other in November 2020 for a four-match Test series.
