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New Delhi: Faced with a barrage of criticism for not scheduling enough Test matches for India in the wake of MS Dhoni's team attaining the No.1 rank, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally woken up and requested Cricket South Africa (CSA) to include two Tests during the upcoming series in India in February-March 2010.
Now, instead of five One-dayers, the two sides will play two Tests in a battle for the No.1 rank, besides three One-dayers. According to BCCI sources, both boards have agreed to the proposal, with the CSA relenting on its earlier 'no-Tests-please' stance.
"We requested for two matches to be played before the three-match ODI series would start and it's going to happen," a BCCI official said. The tour will begin on February 5 and will go on till March 2.
The BCCI had earlier made no effort to include two Tests, confident that Indian crowds only wanted to see T20 and ODI games. But the criticism it copped after fans, the media and even some administrators woke up to the fact that the new No.1 team only had two Tests scheduled in the next 11 months, prompted this latest about turn. Even MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag had expressed a desire to play more Tests.
Earlier, Cricket South Africa had written to the board asking them not to include Tests during the series, a request which BCCI had readily agreed to. "It (this change) was important for the betterment of the game. We know Test cricket is important and so CSA was asked to consider our request to play Tests," the BCCI official added.
Recently, the South African Cricketers' Association said yes to BCCI's proposal to cut down two One-dayers and include Tests instead, with SACA chief executive Tony Irish saying the players would be happy to play more Tests. "Players are in favour of that. We would prefer to play two Tests and three One-dayers rather than playing five-ODI series," Irish was quoted as saying.
