Indian cricket star Ravichandran Ashwin has once again brought up the crucial topic of standardizing Test match venues across India. He’s throwing his weight behind a vision first articulated by Virat Kohli back in 2019, emphasizing that player familiarity and predictable pitch conditions should take precedence over sheer crowd turnout when choosing where to host crucial Test series.
Ashwin, a seasoned off-spinner with 106 Test caps, articulated his views on his popular YouTube channel, ‘Ash ki Baat.’ He pointed out that the current rotation system leads to wildly different playing conditions across the country, which ultimately diminishes the quality of Test cricket and India’s potential home advantage. He highlighted the specific issue of pitches in India’s eastern regions, noting their distinct lack of bounce.
To truly leverage home advantage, Ashwin argued that venues should be chosen based on their superior pitch quality and the Indian team’s prior experience playing there. This, he believes, is the genuine essence of playing at home.
“Test centers aren’t just about drawing crowds; they’re fundamentally about familiarity with conditions. While I’m not entirely against playing matches in places like Guwahati or Ranchi, the inherent issue in India is that every pitch has its own unique character. Specifically, the eastern parts of the country often offer pitches with very little bounce, which can lead to quite ordinary Test matches,” Ashwin explained.
He further expressed apprehension about India hosting matches in venues where even the national team players haven’t had prior first-class experience. He cited a recent Test match in Guwahati against South Africa as an example of how unfamiliar venues can negate any perceived home advantage.
“Make sure whichever Test center you decide has the best pitches. Some venues are better than others only because the pitches are better and the team is used to conditions. That is home advantage. Otherwise, playing within the Indian geographical map is technically ‘home,’ but it doesn’t truly feel like it,” he elaborated.
This impassioned argument from Ashwin strongly resonates with Virat Kohli’s own suggestion from 2019. Back then, Kohli advocated for consolidating Test matches to just five permanent centers across India. Ashwin echoed this sentiment, questioning the relevance of the current multitude of venues despite their historical benefits for promoting local cricket and funding associations.
Ashwin recalled, “Eden Gardens, Guwahati – playing against South Africa there… should there be standard Test centers? Virat, years ago, stated they must be fixed. I personally think it’s about time. Why did we even create so many Test centers? It was to help more cricketers emerge and provide more funding to their associations. But a Test match in Guwahati isn’t a true home game for either team, and I doubt any Indian national player has played a first-class game there.”
Kohli’s original vision in 2019 was clear: maintain venue rotation for limited-overs formats like T20s and One-Day Internationals, but establish fixed venues for Test cricket. This approach, he believed, would offer visiting teams predictable playing conditions and a consistent crowd atmosphere, fostering better, more competitive Test cricket.
“We’ve been discussing this for a long time, and in my opinion, we should have five Test centers, period. I agree with state associations and the rotation policy for T20 and One-Day cricket, but for Test cricket, teams coming to India should know, ‘We’re going to play at these five centers; these are the pitches we’re going to expect, and these are the kind of people that will come to watch, crowds,’” Kohli had stated.
The ongoing dialogue about standardizing Test match venues in India continues to highlight a fundamental tension: balancing the traditional policy of rotating matches to spread the game versus the desire to establish predictable, high-quality playing conditions essential for the longest format of cricket.