Why India may also be playing away from home

Among the players in the squad, only Siraj has previously played a red-ball game at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati and that too came in 2016

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

ON Saturday morning, the Bar-sapara Stadium in Guwahati will become India’s newest Test centre. Since 2000 alone, it will be the 19th different venue to play host to the longest format in the country, joining the likes of Dharamsala (HPCA), Indore (Holkar Stadium), Pune (MCA Stadium) and Visakhapatnam (ACA-VDCA) in hosting maiden long-format international games this century.

This is a renewed push by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take cricket away from the traditional strongholds of Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata. The Board should be commended for this initiative as the sport should be spread. But one of the unintended consequences of a move like this will play itself out when both teams come out for the toss on Day One.