Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has advocated for the establishment of standard Test centres for home matches in India, supporting earlier calls made by Virat Kohli in 2019. Speaking on his YouTube channel “Ash ki Baat,” the 39-year-old off-spinner emphasized the importance of considering player familiarity and pitch conditions, alongside crowd attendance, when selecting Test match venues across the country.Ashwin highlighted that playing conditions vary significantly across different regions in India, which can impact the quality of Test matches. He specifically pointed out the challenges with pitches in certain parts of the country, particularly noting the lack of bounce in eastern regions.The 106-Test veteran stressed that the selection of Test venues should prioritize locations with superior pitch conditions, where the Indian team has experience playing. This familiarity, according to Ashwin, constitutes a legitimate home advantage.“Test centres is not about crowds alone. It is also about familiarity of conditions. If we are playing a Test in Guwahati or Ranchi, I am not against these venues as a possibility. But the problem in India is every surface has a different identity. There is literally no bounce in the Eastern part of the country. It becomes a very ordinary Test match pitch then.”Ashwin expressed concern about hosting matches in venues where even Indian players lack first-class cricket experience. He referenced the recent Test match in Guwahati against South Africa to illustrate his point about unfamiliar venues.“Make sure whichever Test centre you decide has the best pitches. Some venues are better than others only because the pitches are better and the team is used to conditions. That is home advantage. Otherwise the only point is you are playing within that Indian map as home, but is not home.”The discussion aligns with ViratKohli‘s previous recommendation from 2019, where he proposed limiting Test matches to five permanent centres in India. Ashwin acknowledged the historical reasons for multiple Test centres but questioned their current relevance.“Eden Gardens, Guwahati – playing against South Africa there, should there be standard Test centres? Virat said years ago they must be fixed. I personally think it’s about time, why did we make Test centres? So more cricketers could emerge, and their associations would get more funding. But Guwahati as a Test match is not a home game for either team, and I don’t think anyone in the Indian team has played a first-class game in Guwahati.“Kohli’s original proposal from 2019 suggested maintaining venue rotation for limited-overs formats while establishing fixed Test centres. His vision aimed to provide visiting teams with clearer expectations regarding playing conditions and crowd atmosphere.“We’ve been discussing this for a long time now, and in my opinion we should have five Test centres, period. I mean, I agree [with] state associations and rotation and giving games and all that, that is fine for T20 and one-day cricket, but Test cricket, teams coming to India should know, ‘we’re going to play at these five centres, these are the pitches we’re going to expect, these are the kind of people that will come to watch, crowds’.“The debate around standardizing Test venues in India continues to highlight the balance between maintaining traditional rotation policies and establishing consistent playing conditions for the longest format of the game.
