XtraTime Web Desk: Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar raised his voice for ‘interesting’ pitches to revive Test cricket, as he thinks that dead tracks are only doing harm to the five-day cricket.
“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 a Championship, cricket is not going to get interesting,” Tendulkar said.
Citing the results and the kind of cricket that has been on offer in the Ashes so far, Tendulkar said it was a reason why people have moved on from the recently-concluded World Cup to the five-match series so soon. “(Steve) Smith got injured unfortunately, that was a big blow to him but Test cricket was exciting when Jofra Archer challenged him. The focus shifted to Test cricket, people almost kind of forgot that four weeks ago, there was World Cup being played in England, nobody is talking about that, everyone is talking about Test cricket, because it is challenging and exciting,” Tendulkar added.
He also heaped praise on Marnus Labuschagne, who has struck three consecutive half-centuries in as many innings since coming on as a replacement for Smith in the second Test.
“I have been watching a little bit of Ashes and I thought someone like Marnus Labuschagne left the ball brilliantly. It’s something you don’t get to see in Test cricket. Normally those deliveries… because of the kind of surfaces that one has been playing (on), you tend to glide those balls to third man and pick a single and go to the non-strikers’ end… but the kind of surfaces they are playing on, you steer the ball (and) you will go to the dressing room. So you need to leave those balls or defend solidly, and the guys who haven’t been able to do that, have been watching the game from the dressing room.”