Ganguly took right step to revive Test cricket: Kohli's former coach

New Delhi [India], Oct 30 (ANI): India skipper Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma on Wednesday hailed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly's decision for scheduling the first-ever day/night Test between India and Bangladesh at Eden Gardens.
"It is a very good decision. Sourav Ganguly has taken the right step in trying to revive Test cricket in the country. We saw in the recent series against South Africa that the crowd did not turn up in big numbers," Sharma told ANI.
"It is important to try out new things in trying to revive Test cricket and this decision by Ganguly is a good one. It's a nice thing that a person like Ganguly is in charge of the BCCI," he added.
After getting the approval of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday, the second Test between India and Bangladesh will be played under lights with a pink ball from November 22 to 26
According to Sharma, players would not get the proper time to prepare for the day/night Test as they have not played one yet.
"From the player's point of view, I can say that maybe they won't be prepared for the match as the day/night Test is played with a pink ball. If the players were given proper time to prepare for the pink ball, it would have been nice. Players might find it difficult to adapt to the pink ball as it swings more than the red ball," Sharma said.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was banned for two years, after accepting three charges of breaching the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Anti-Corruption Code on Tuesday.
Sharma said that Shakib's suspension is very unfortunate and a big blow for Bangla Tigers.
"It's a big blow and it is very unfortunate. Players are given classes from the U-16 days on as to how to tackle corruption and the procedures for reporting it. He made a mistake on not reporting it, it is unfortunate and it is a big blow for Bangladesh as he is the number one all-rounder," Sharma said.
"India has an advantage in the series. The team has shown consistent performance, but Bangladesh can surprise us and the side needs to be on their toes at every time," he added.
Bangladesh will start their India tour with three T20I followed by two Test matches, the first T20I will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on November 3.
Delhi's air quality is in 'very poor' level after Diwali and according to Sharma BCCI need to think about this as it will affect players health.
"It is unfortunate that Delhi has such pollution at the current time. BCCI might need to think about this going ahead, they should not hold matches in the capital at this time going ahead as the health of the players is paramount," Sharma said. (ANI)