Mumbai: Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi feels that reviving the dying popularity of test cricket is the biggest challenge ahead for the administrators. Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, feels that the first step in that direction would be to allow free entry for school and college students.

“One of the suggestions I gave to the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) was to make Test cricket a day/night affair to allow people to come and watch it after their duty hours,” said Modi, hailed for making Twenty20 in general and IPL in particular a massive success, during a panel discussion here on Tuesday.

The discussion followed the release of Out of the Box – Watching the Game We Love, a book by commentator Harsha Bhogle the first copy of which was presented to Tendulkar.

Tendulkar, who has always insisted that youngsters need to be drawn to test cricket to revive the longer version of the game, reiterated his belief while taking part in the discussion that Cricket Board should allow free entry to the students to convert them into fans of the traditional form of the game.

“I have already suggested this to the BCCI,” he said. “Going to watch the India vs West Indies Test match in 1983 at the Wankhede Stadium as a ten-year-old is etched in my memory. The BCCI should open the gates on weekends to top school and college children to savour Test cricket live. If at least 10 per cent of them become Test fans, the purpose would be served.”

Former Indian cricketer and now a television expert, Sanjay Manjrekar, felt that the problem with Test cricket is that though the fans loved seeing three bouncers directed at a batsman by a bowler or catches taken in the slips, it was too spread out.

“This action is spread out over seven hours which is too long. When you tweak that, Test cricket can be enjoyable,” said Manjrekar.

Modi said with the horde of channels on television and so many other forms of entertainment readily available to the consumers these days, they need to be attracted to the game.

“There are other sports for the consumer to turn to. There are 100 or 150 TV channels too. One way forward is to play day-night Tests. Also, we need to schedule more Tests into the FTP which can be done for the 2012-2020 programme,” he suggested.

Manjrekar, supporting Australian great Shane Warne who has said 50-over cricket has lost its shelf life, said there was too much mediocrity in the more traditional limited-overs format.

“What I want is excellence but I feel there’s too much mediocrity in 50-over games. Take for example the recent series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, where 80 per cent of the runs were scored through ones and twos and not through boundary hits,” he pointed out.

CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, one of the panelists, recalled Sunil Gavaskar’s comments that of late players seem to be more interested in wearing IPL caps than India caps. Asked for his view, Tendulkar, however, insisted that all the players wanted to wear the India cap but the reality was not all can do so.

“Everyone wants to wear an India cap,” he said. “But you have to be realistic too. What the IPL has done is to open doors and allowed players to pursue their passion. When I took up to the game as a five-year-old I did not do so thinking I would make money. These were all incidental.”

Former hockey international Viren Rasquinha agreed with Modi’s views that performance of the national team was of great importance and so too was how professionally well the game was run.

Modi, asked by Manjrekar whether Twenty20 was a passing phase, said it was here to stay. “I am confident that Twenty20 is here to stay,” he said.

Ex-India hockey captain and four-time Olympian Dhanraj Pillay hailed Modi for taking cricket to a new level and said other games too needed someone like him to go forward. Indian Express Group Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta gave the inaugural address and also took part in the panel discussion as a member of the audience.

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