As Check cricket reaches Guwahati, are India squandering dwelling benefit not like England, Australia, South Africa? | Cricket Information

As Check cricket reaches Guwahati, are India squandering dwelling benefit not like England, Australia, South Africa? | Cricket Information

Last Updated: November 20, 2025By

File photograph of the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The stadium will host the second Check between India and South Africa beginning November 22. (Getty Pictures)

NEW DELHI: When India and South Africa gamers will take the sphere at Barsapara Stadium for the second Check of the collection on Saturday, will probably be a momentous event for the Guwahati venue. With play scheduled to begin half an hour sooner than the standard 9:30 am IST, Check cricket in India will mark its twenty eighth totally different venue.Within the course of, Barsapara Stadium will be a part of the likes of Eden Gardens (Kolkata), venue of the primary Check, Arun Jaitley Stadium (New Delhi), MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chennai) and the lesser recognized College Floor (Lucknow), and Gandhi Stadium (Jalandhar).

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As BCCI’s coverage of rotating venues reaches its nineteenth totally different Check centre this century, it comes not lengthy after Narendra Modi Stadium was sparely crammed for the Check towards the West Indies. And extra carefully on the heels of one other pitch controversy and uncertainty going into the Barsapara Stadium.“Check centres just isn’t about crowds alone. Additionally it is about familiarity of circumstances. If we’re taking part in a Check in Guwahati or Ranchi, I’m not towards these venues as a chance. However the issue in India is each floor has a distinct id. There may be actually no bounce within the Jap a part of the nation. It turns into a really extraordinary Check match pitch then,” mentioned former India spinner R Ashwin on his YouTube present Ash ki Baat.“Make sure that whichever Check centre you determine has the perfect pitches. Some venues are higher than others solely as a result of the pitches are higher and the crew is used to circumstances. That’s dwelling benefit. In any other case the one level is you’re taking part in inside that Indian map as dwelling, however just isn’t dwelling,” he had added.WHERE IS INDIA’S TEST HOME ADVANTAGE?

Nation Complete Venues Pre-2000 Publish-2000
India 27 19 18
Australia 11 7 10
England 10 7 9
South Africa 11 9 8

The decision for having mounted Check centres just isn’t new. Neither is the perspective of taking the sport to totally different places and popularising the standard format.In 2019, Virat Kohli had pressured that mounted venues is not only appropriate for the house groups but additionally the away groups in what they need to anticipate from the group and floor.In the meantime, Rohit Sharma, who succeeded Kohli as Check captain and retired earlier this yr, mentioned taking Check cricket to “all elements of the nation” was the best way ahead.“We’ve been discussing this for a very long time now, and for my part we must always have 5 Check centres, interval. I imply, I agree [with] state associations and rotation and giving video games and all that, that’s superb for T20 and one-day cricket, however Check cricket, groups coming to India ought to know, ‘we’re going to play at these 5 centres, these are the pitches we’re going to anticipate, these are the sort of folks that may come to observe, crowds’,” Kohli had mentioned.

Some venues are higher than others solely as a result of the pitches are higher and the crew is used to circumstances. That’s dwelling benefit. In any other case the one level is you’re taking part in inside that Indian map as dwelling, however just isn’t dwelling

R Ashwin

Ashwin concurred with Kohli’s opinion from six years in the past.“Eden Gardens, Guwahati – taking part in towards South Africa there, ought to there be normal Check centres? Virat mentioned years in the past they have to be mounted. I personally suppose it’s about time, why did we make Check centres? So extra cricketers may emerge, and their associations would get extra funding. However Guwahati as a Check match just isn’t a house recreation for both crew, and I don’t suppose anybody within the Indian crew has performed a first-class recreation in Guwahati,” mentioned the retired veteran.The off-spinner used South Africa’s Port Elizabeth to drive the purpose dwelling. He talked about how Proteas play their dwelling Assessments towards India on the Centurion and Wanderers whereas retaining Port Elizabeth away from the calendar to remove India’s benefit of taking part in the spin.“Ought to now we have normal Check centres? They exist already in international locations like Australia, England, and South Africa. These nations persistently use the identical venues for Check cricket. In India, nonetheless, once you play in a number of Check centres, it doesn’t at all times really feel like a house recreation for India,” claimed Ashwin.

Venue Total matches Pre-2000 matches Since 2000 matches
Eden Gardens, Kolkata 43 30 13
Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi 36 26 10
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai 35 24 11
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai 27 17 10
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru 25 13 12
Inexperienced Park, Kanpur 24 18 6
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai 18 17 1
Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad 16 5 11
I.S. Bindra Punjab Cricket Affiliation Stadium 14 3 11
Vidarbha C.A. Floor, Nagpur 9 6 3
Nehru Stadium, Madras 9 9
Vidarbha Cricket Affiliation Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur 7 7
Rajiv Gandhi Worldwide Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad 6 6
JSCA Worldwide Stadium Advanced, Ranchi 3 3
Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore 3 3
Maharashtra Cricket Affiliation Stadium, Pune 3 3
Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Vizag 3 3
Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot 3 3
Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad 3 3
Barabati Stadium, Cuttack 2 2
Himachal Pradesh Cricket Affiliation Stadium, Dharamsala 2 2
Ok.D. Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium, Lucknow 1 1
Gymkhana Floor, Mumbai 1 1
Sector 16 Stadium, Chandigarh 1 1
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur 1 1
Gandhi Stadium, Jalandhar 1 1
College Floor, Lucknow 1 1
VENUES 27 19 18

The numbers again this declare. India have performed at 27 totally different venues of their Check historical past whereas Australia (11), England (10) and reigning World Check Championships (WTC) champions South Africa (11) have largely caught to mounted venues.Since 2000, India have performed their Check cricket at new centres within the type of Jamtha, Nagpur (7 matches), Rajiv Gandhi Worldwide Stadium, Hyderabad (6), JSCA Worldwide Stadium Advanced, Ranchi, Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, MCA Stadium, Pune, ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam and Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot (3).On the identical time, a number of the stadiums of the yesteryears have been phased out. Nehru Stadium, Madras, Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad, Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, Ok.D.Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium, Lucknow, Gymkhana Floor, Mumbai, Sector 16 Stadium, Chandigarh, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, Gandhi Stadium, Jalandhar and College Floor, Lucknow have all not seen a match on this century.

Eden Gardens

Eden Gardens has hosted probably the most variety of Check matches in India.

So far as the ‘common’ Check centres are involved, the fixtures are rotated between Eden Gardens, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Arun Jaitley Stadium and Wankhede Stadium. Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and Inexperienced Park Stadium in Kanpur have seen discount in matches allotted whereas the Narendra Modi Stadium has seen an uptick.Once you take a look at the opposite members of the ‘Massive 3’ – Australia and England – alongside South Africa, there’s a summer season of Check cricket and even the venues have a everlasting fixture. Like in Australia, Melbourne Cricket Floor (MCG) hosts the Boxing Day Check.AUSTRALIA TEST VENUES

Venue Total Pre-2000 Since 2000
MCG 117 93 24
SCG 113 86 27
Adelaide 83 59 24
Gabba, Brisbane 67 43 24
WACA, Perth 44 28 16
Hobart 14 5 9
Perth Stadium 5 5
Cairns 2 2
Darwin 2 2
Exhibition Floor, Brisbane 2 2
Manuka Oval, Canberra 1 1
VENUES 11 7 10

Then, for 43 years, the Ashes opener was held at The Gabba till the upcoming collection would break from custom and begin on the Perth Stadium. It solely got here after a long-term settlement was signed with Cricket Australia (CA) that may guarantee the primary Check of the summer season shall be performed in Perth.In comparison with India’s 27 totally different Check venues, Australia and South Africa have 11 venues every whereas England have 10. Damaged down additional, as towards India’s 18 totally different venues this century, Australia have 10, England 9 and South Africa 8.Of these 10 Australian venues, 5 have been barely used – the newly constructed Hobart (9), Perth Stadium (5), Cairns, Darwin (2) and Manuka Oval (1). The remaining 5 have been used for probably the most half – SCG (27), MCG, Adelaide Oval, The Gabba (24) adopted by WACA, Perth (16).ENGLAND TEST VENUES

Venue Total Pre-2000 Since 2000
Lord’s 146 99 47
The Oval 107 83 24
Outdated Trafford, Manchester 85 65 20
Headingley 81 61 20
Trent Bridge 66 46 20
Edgbaston 57 36 21
Chester-le-Avenue 6 6
Southampton 6 6
Cardiff 3 3
Sheffield 1 1
VENUES 10 7 9

Similar holds true for England and South Africa the place a lot of the Check cricket is restricted to 5 or 6 venues. In England which means Lord’s (47), The Oval (24), Edgbaston (21), Outdated Trafford, Headingley, Trent Bridge (20) as conventional venues. Chester-le Avenue, Rose Bowl and Sophia Gardens have seen little exercise in five-day matches.SOUTH AFRICA TEST VENUES

Venue Total Pre-2000 Since 2000
Newlands, Cape City 61 32 29
Kingsmead, Durban 46 28 18
Wanderers, Johannesburg 44 22 22
Port Elizabeth 33 19 14
Centurion 30 5 25
Outdated Wanderers 22 22
Ellis Park 6 6
Bloemfontein 5 2 3
Lord’s, Durban 4 4
Senwes Park 2 2
Buffalo Park 1 1
VENUES 11 9 8

In the meantime, in South Africa, it means Newlands (29), Centurion (25), Wanderers (22), Kingsmead (18) and Port Elizabeth (14) as the standard fixtures. On the identical time, Bloemfontein, Senwes Park and Buffalo Park haven’t hosted a five-day affair since 2017.Again in India, Barsapara Stadium’s debut as India’s twenty eighth Check venue highlights the problem between increasing the sport and sustaining constant, high-quality circumstances whereas sustaining dwelling benefit.




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