Kevin Pietersen at the MAK Pataudi Lecture
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen, while delivering the prestigious MAK Pataudi Lecture in Bengaluru on Tuesday, said the entertainment value of Test cricket needs to be increased at a time when T20 is threatening to usurp all other formats.
"I say, let's create a fair comparison. Let's not compromise entertainment. Let's put the Test fans first. Let's make Test cricket a spectacle. Garnish it with colour and fireworks. Fill the grounds. Play in the evenings. Give the umpires microphones to broadcast to the spectators. Allow sledging -- as long as it remains the right side of the line. Communicate better with the fans," the first-ever foreign cricketer to address the prestigious MAK Pataudi Lecture said.
India is still not comfortable with the idea of playing day-night Tests, but Pietersen believes that pink ball matches are the only way forward to save the game's traditional format.
Pietersen couldn't have possibly chosen a more appropriate platform to make a case for day-night cricket, especially at a time when T20 is threatening to usurp all other formats.
"If we wish cricketers to commit to five-day cricket we have to pay them. So how do we pay them? Simply by throwing the same commercial nouse and innovation at the Test game. Five days of action. They provide so many opportunities.
"Day night games have demonstrated the enormous leaps that are possible. The IPL doen't play its biggest fixtures when many of its staunchest, wealthiest fans are at work. Neither should Test cricket," Pietersen said in his address.
Pietersen stated that marketing Test cricket is the need of the hour for the custodians of the game.
"It will only be by pushing the marketing dial to a maximum that we will see if the Test game has true potential. Let's make every game count. Push the profile of the world Test championship. Develop marketing opportunities. Offer cheaper seats in the ground to provide a better spectacle for TV viewers," he said.
"We need to get them back through the turnstiles. It's better for the players the sponsors and television. Let's get the fans back! Let's throw equal marketing clout behind the Test game before we succumb to the lazy assumption that 20-20 rules."
Pietersen himself has plied his trade across the globe in various T20 leagues but the Englishman remains a staunch supporter of the five-day format.
"In my humble opinion a hard fought five-day Test match remains the greatest all-round challenge in modern day sport. A challenge as mentally demanding as it is physical. A challenge demanding the very highest levels of concentration of technique, of determination, of stamina, all, for the batsman at least, with no second chances," he said.
"Because, having played every form of cricket in every corner of the cricketing globe, I remain 100% convinced that the five-day Test remains the supreme form of the game," Pietersen stressed.
Further emphasising on his point, Pietersen said T20 may be ruling the roost but it is Test cricket which eventually showcases the character of a player.
"This may surprise some of you. After all, I am not known as a traditionalist. But in 2005 I maintained that you shouldn't judge a man by his haircut. And now, thirteen years later, I suggest you should not believe everything you read on Twitter!
"Nor, I should add, am I anything but unstinting in my praise of 20-20 cricket -- particularly the wonderful IPL. 20-20 provides the thrill, the noise, the speed and no little genius. It has taken fielding to a new level and has redefined batting," he said.
"But it offers the cricketing buzz without the full sting. Wickets are less precious. Risks are taken without the same downside. There is less character and technique required.
(With PTI inputs)
