Kolkata: The God of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar hasn’t found too many takers. Tendulkar has had suggestions, but his view that two pitches should be used in the Ranji Trophy hasn’t been endorsed by Marylebone Cricket Club’s Cricket Committee, according to former Pakistani opening batsman Rameez Raja. “First class cricket is about playing competitive (cricket), challenging yourself. It (playing on two pitches) will be like lessening the importance of first class cricket. That is what the committee felt,” said Raja who is also a member of the committee after the panel’s two-day meeting in Mumbai.
The Chairman of the committee Mike Brearley said, “We talked about that too. We talked about the conflict between using first-class matches as training and the fact that they are proper games of cricket in a proper competition, proper feeling that you’re in a real match. Those two things can be in conflict.” “I personally think the committee would have probably said the same, that we felt that (the idea of Tendulkar) went too far in turning first class cricket into mere practice matches for international cricket,” the former England captain added.
Tendulkar is of the view that Ranji Trophy matches should be played on two different pitches with two balls (Kookaburra and SG), but MCC members are of the unanimous view that Tendulkar’s suggestions are not to be approved.
For the first-time ever Tendulkar has opened up and put forth opinions in the larger interest of Indian cricket. Unfortunately, his views have met with an opposition which makes headlines. Probably, Tendulkar who has the distinction of playing 200 Test matches for India, aired his views keeping in mind the larger interest of Indian cricket, but with MCC refuting his views, there’s a place for debate.
A can of worms has been opened and the coming days will witness a lot with experts coming up with opinions on improving the game. We are looking forward to it.
(With inputs from PTI)