Bazid Khan advises PCB to host future Test matches in smaller venues

Former Test cricketer and renowned commentator Bazid Khan on Friday suggested the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to host future Test matches in smaller centres to attract a larger audience.

In a conversation with Geo.tv, Bazid said that he believes Test cricket should also be marketed the way white-ball cricket is done.

“It is important to publicise and market Test cricket the way it is done for ODIs or T20Is,” Bazid said.

“Along with that, when cricket has returned completely to Pakistan, the PCB should opt for hosting Test matches at comparatively smaller venues where you can attract crowd to stadium in a bigger number — this happens in most of the countries,” he added.

Bazid, however, added that the crowd at Rawalpindi was tremendous and as a cricket commentator, he hasn’t witnessed such a crowd in Pakistan’s home Test series before in his career.

The 38-year-old played five ODIs for Pakistan between 2004 and 2008, and played his only Test against West Indies in 2005. He is now considered one of the most respected cricket commentators in the circuit.

The former cricketer highlighted that the return of Test cricket to the country is a historic moment for Pakistan and added that they will soon reap its benefits.

“We have lost a lot in the last 10 years due to teams not coming to Pakistan for cricket,” said Bazid.

“The biggest loss was for the aspiring cricketers who were not getting opportunities of side matches, where they could perform and get the attention to get the international cap.

“Now that we have cricket back in Pakistan, I hope that we’ll be now hosting proper bilateral series at home. We will see such side games back in Pakistan and players deriving benefit from it,” he added.

The commentator added that the best thing about having cricket matches at home is the festivity around the game.

“It [cricket] is not limited to the stadium. We enjoy the festivity even when we are not at the ground, even at the places away from cricket, everyone you see talks about cricket,” he said.

“What we saw in Rawalpindi was a glimpse of how exciting cricket could be at home ground,” Bazid added.