06 November,2019 07:27 AM IST | | Subodh Mayure
Dilip Doshi (right) greets fellow left-arm spinner Padmakar Shivalkar as Dilip Vengsarkar looks on at the book launch of Wizards � The Story of Indian Spin Bowling by Anindya Dutta at a bookshop in Bandra West yesterday. ic/ Atul Kamble
The two Dilips - former India captain Vengsarkar and ex-India left-arm spinner Doshi welcomed the BCCI-s decision to conduct the first day-night Test on Indian soil.
"It is good to start something...we saw in Australia how huge a success it was, so I am sure people in India will also lap it up. It is a way to revive Test cricket and get the crowds in," Vengsarkar said.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian team are set to play the pink ball Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata on November 22. While highlighting the importance of five-day cricket, Doshi said, "It [day-night Test] is going to bring the crowds back; everything needs to be marketed well today. Test cricket should not die because if that happens, cricket will be dead. Test cricket is the proper diet without which you can-t survive," remarked Doshi, who picked up 114 wickets in 33 Tests. Vengsarkar and Doshi were speaking on the sidelines of the book launch of Wizards - The story of Indian Spin Bowling by Anindya Dutta.
Meanwhile, Doshi felt T20 cricket has affected the footwork of batsmen which has resulted in teams winning series only at home and not overseas. "The advent of T20 cricket has changed the way the game is being played. There is so much of T20 that the mindset is also being transferred into Test cricket. The batsmen who are playing T20 lose their footwork when they play Test cricket," Doshi said in reply to a question on why visiting batsmen fail to be strong on Indian pitches. "Modern batsmen are not a patch on people who played before. I don-t see the Dravids, Gangulys, Laxmans, Tendulkars and Sehwags anymore. Today, a lot of batsmen are using bat-speed and arm-speed to make the ball disappear and that has become the norm in international cricket. That is why most of the teams are good at home and do not win overseas. Today, there are great strikers of the ball but they are not necessarily great batsmen," he remarked.
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