"When you take Test cricket to smaller centres, the crowd come in bigger numbers" - Dinesh Karthik on designated Test centres

Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik lent his opinion on the highly debated topic of the country being potentially restricted to only five Test centers for the format's growth. The ongoing stalled Test in Kanpur has irked several, who feel that the longest format should be exclusive to just a handful of selected venues, much like how Australia and England conduct the process.

The prospect of limited Test centers was touched upon by Virat Kohli as well when he was leading the red-ball side. He had mentioned that the opposition should be aware of what they could expect in terms of challenging conditions and possibly intimidating atmospheres.

If India ease into the Test center system, the venues in major metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru are likely to get the nod.

Dinesh Karthik noted that people usually do not turn up to watch red-ball cricket in such cities, while the turnouts are great in comparatively smaller cities.

"What happens when you nominate five centres in a place like India in Tier 1 cities, it is a fact that there has been a dwindling amount of interest in the Test format. So, even if you host a Test in one of the major centres, the fact is people are not watching Test cricket. Sometimes on TV it does not paint the right picture," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

Kanpur is a great example. It is not a Tier 1 city, atleast not a metropolitan city, so you can see people coming up in big numbers. It is not a town that has not hosted too many matches, and add to the fact that Lucknow have come in and found a way to host games. So, when a match happens in Kanpur, you can see the interest," he added

Tier 1 cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai have been allotted two matches from the upcoming three-match Test series against New Zealand.

"It has been a process that has been going around for a long time" - Dinesh Karthik

Karthik further explained the current policy in place, which is based on rotation from time to time. With India boasting countless venues, with more to come soon, assigning matches to each venue becomes arduous despite no shortage of cricketing action.

"How it works in India is that there is a rotation system. There are about 34-36 state associations, and they rotate matches whenever they get. Every association gets an opportunity to host and it goes round and round. It has been a process that has been going around for a long time, and hence they have stuck to it," Karthik said in the same interaction.

The ongoing Test match in Kanpur has only witnessed one session being played in three days. The drainage facility of the venue has been questioned with the outfield sporting wet patches despite the absence of rain for a while now.