Large weekend crowd a pleasant surprise for KSCA

BANGALORE: A Test match, that too one against New Zealand. No Rahul Dravid, no VVS Laxman. India had lost eight of the last nine Tests they played, all but one overseas.
And yet, the crowds came in at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, around 7,000 on the opening day on Friday, 20,000 on Saturday and nearly 25,000 on Sunday, the third day of the Test, all but catching the hosting association, the KSCA, unawares.
It wasn't bad in Hyderabad either for the opening Test despite the stadium being a good 20-km from town.
Why this sudden interest you may wonder, after all so many Tests in recent years, even in places such as Kolkata, where Bangladesh could probably fill the ground at one time, have failed to attract decent audiences.
Simple, this series had been planned around the weekend, as it is in many parts of the world, unless it is holiday season. The Hyderabad Test began on Thursday and the Bangalore game on Friday, just the ideal days to start matches. There were no Monday-Tuesday starts this time around and it paid off.
And crowds are important, crucial even, as they are able to lift performances by their sheer presence. In India, unlike in the West Indies, there is too much noise for any meaningful advice to be offered, unsolicited of course, but when they are roaring for the home team or baying for the opposition, it does mean a lot to the players inside the arena.
Ask Virat Kohli if you want an insider's view point. "It's very important for cricketers to have people supporting you," said Sunday's centurion at the post-match conference.
"Even if you play in a country outside India, and the crowd is not supporting you but you see a lot of people come in, you always feel that people are really keen and they're watching and appreciating what you're doing," he added.
"Even in Hyderabad we had really good crowds, so it was very pleasing to see both these venues having big crowds coming in for the Test matches. As a cricketer you always feel nice when people come out and support you and cheer for your team.
It could help you in situations where things are not going right for you, you get one wicket and the crowd's behind you, things could turn around pretty quickly.
And the opposition feels the pressure as well, so it's always good to have big crowds in stadiums," he concluded.
Hopefully the BCCI will take note of all this and make similar plans for the series against England next and Australia later. Both are four-Test series, so the planning will be that much tougher but there simply should be no compromise on a Thursday or Friday start. That way Test cricket can continue to thrive.