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Sachin Tendulkar on Test Cricket: "The heart of Test cricket is the kind of surface that you play on"
Sachin Tendulkar speaks about the importance of playing Test cricket on quality pitches.
Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar wants Test cricket to be played on good pitches and that would only help revive the longest format of the game. He cited the example of the Lord's pitch where the second Ashes Test was played on where there was a fierce contest between Steve Smith and Jofra Archer.
He said, "The heart of Test cricket is the kind of surface that you play on. If you provide good pitches, cricket cannot be boring, cricket cannot be damp, and there will always be those exciting moments, exciting bowling spells, great batting and that is what people want to see."
On the nasty bouncer from Jofra Archer which hit Steve Smith, Sachin felt that these incidents get viewers hooked and make Test cricket thrilling to watch. "Smith got injured unfortunately, that was a big blow to him but Test cricket was exciting when Jofra Archer challenged him, it suddenly became exciting and the focus shifted to Test cricket."
"At Lord's they lost almost a day and half, but the Test match got exciting even on the last day when England picked those wickets and Australia had to survive. Test cricket suddenly became exciting and that is how it should be."
"People almost kind of forgot that four-five weeks ago, there was World Cup being played in England, nobody is talking about that, everyone is talking about Test cricket."
"I think Test cricket is going to revive if we produce interesting tracks, but if the tracks are flat and dead then Test cricket is going to find its challenges. I know this Test World Championship has been announced but even to have this World Championship, you got to make cricket interesting, just by having another championship, cricket is not going to get interesting."
The little-master also heaped praise on Marnus Labuschagne who came in to the Australian side after Smith was ruled out. "I have been watching a little bit of Ashes and I thought someone like Marnus Labuschagne has left the ball brilliantly, which is something that you don't get to see in Test cricket."
