There's a difference between Leeds and Dhaka or between cricket in England and Australia and cricket in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. (I was tempted to say West and East when I remembered that the Sri Lankans seem to have a great time watching cricket at home as do the West Indians—with the exception of the last World Cup when the ICC with its genius for doing the wrong thing managed to take the joy out of cricket in the Caribbean)

Ticket prices in England seem to bear some relationship to the spectator's ability to pay. Fifteen pounds is roughly 1200 rupees a day which seems a substantial sum of money to me, especially if you add the cost of travelling to the stadium and back and the prices that the concessions at the ground charge for food and drink. But from the evidence of the stands at Headingley, it's a price that the market will bear.

Compare this with the sub-continent.( I'll leave out Pakistan and Bangladesh: I don't know enough about those two countries, though from the evidence of television, Test match attendances are dire. I remember reading that during the last two Indian tours of Pakistan the stands were empty because tickets were too expensive, security too tight and ticket-booths too hard to get to.) Let's look at ticket prices and their effects on attendance not at the worst of our venues, like that drain, Feroz Shah Kotla, but at the best, say Mohali.

	At Headingley, a day out at the cricket seemed like fun © Getty Images

This is an extract from the report in the Tribune of 13 March last year, about the Mohali Test against the English tourists:

"Mohali, March 12
After the decision of the Punjab Cricket Association to reduce the prices of the General Block and VIP Block tickets, today witnessed a heavy rush at the stands of the stadium on the fourth day of ongoing India-England Test match on at PCA Stadium, here. The decision on reduction combined with the weekend rush had the stands pretty full today."

From Rs 200 per day for the general seats and Rs 1500 for the VIP seats, the prices had been reduced to Rs 50 and Rs 300. In its report the Tribune had a Class X student, a mechanic and a clerk saying that the Punjab Cricket Association's decision to cut prices had drawn them to the stadium.

'"I am a middle-class man and I cannot afford to spend Rs 200 per head for my family of five. So I went on making excuses to my children when they insisted on watching Rahul Dravid playing here. But when I came to know that the general block prices have come down, I decided to take my family to the stadium to watch the action live," said Ram Khilawan, a Junior Division Clerk with Department of Punjab.'

The PCA made tickets affordable and Mohali had a full house, the teams in the middle had the benefit of the ambience spectators alone can create and seats that would have gone to waste made some money for the association. Everyone benefited: so why aren't affordable tickets the rule in cricket venues in India? Why do associations price tickets so ineptly? A Test match seat is a perishable thing: why wouldn't you get a low price for it instead of nothing at all? Airlines do it; theatres in sensible countries have cheap standby seats you can buy at the last minute, why don't Indian cricket venues? The answer, I think, is that having grown fat on television revenues generated by ODIs, provincial cricket administrators are more concerned with handing out passes to people that matter than getting cricket fans to the stadium. Revenues from ticket sales seem like small change to these 'honorary' administrators, careless of house-keeping or accounting, who are more concerned with winning votes in tiny electoral colleges than attending to either the bottom line or the comfort of spectators.

It's killing Test cricket off. The pass-bearing 'patron' will turn up for an ODI, but he isn't a fan, he's a parasite and parasites don't watch Tests, fans do. To get the fan to the stadium you need sensibly priced tickets, public transport to the stadium, parking space, covered stands so you don't die of heat stroke, food you can safely eat and loos that aren't pits slopping with…well, let's not go there. This isn't a utopian programme: it's been done successfully. Mohali's amenities are wonderful: they just need to get their prices right and Chepauk in Chennai consistently attracts large crowds for Test matches because it does the basic things well.

I'm not asking for beer to be sold at the Eden Gardens and I don't expect to see jolly Indian men dressed as dulhans any time soon at an Indian Test match. I'll settle for happy young faces sucking Sprite up with a straw wearing paper caps and cheering. That way when I reach for the remote on my sofa (having paid my stadium dues in youth!) I'll have the satisfaction of watching Test cricket played in populated stadiums for live bodies, not just the television camera. And, rather more importantly, the thrill of Test cricket close-up will keep India's passion for the long game alive.

Its indeed sad that test matches are seeing lesser and lesser crowds these days. It seems that the more intelligent and passionate cricket fan is keeping away from stadiums these days. Too many ODIs are just killing the spirit of test cricket.

I remember the test matches against England in 1993 at Eden Gardens, Chepauk and Wankhede which were played in near full stadiums, and what a fantastic test match atmosphere it was.

The BCCI should take some proactive steps to woo the more informed and passionate cricket fan to the stadium instead of catering to VIPs and NRIs, who dont seem to display any great liking for the sport.

Matches in India be it Test or ODI are lost to the general public because the basic facilities are too inadequate at most of the stadiums. Ostensible police protection, marketing men and the entire ticketing and seating arrangements make the trip to the stadium worthless.

well itis beyond our understanding that test cricket slwly moving away from fast face fantastic one day game.if i compare the both versions of game odi is far better because its short and quicker than boring 5 day game.test cricket more suitable for retired people or like people who got nothing much to do their life rather just killing time and if this game should attract more crowds one day games are must.

Part of the blame must rest with the BCCI for consistently refusing to hand more matches to good Test match venues like Mohali, Wankhede, Eden Gardens (which does draw good crowds), Chepauk, the new Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad or even Chinnaswamy Stadium, purely on politicking grounds.
What we are instead treated is empty stands in a hell-hole like Feroze Shah Kotla, or decrepit concrete monstrosities in random towns like Cuttack, or Jamshedpur and what not.
Bad enough we are doing atrociously in One Day cricket, but to start doing worse in Test Cricket as well? I wish the BCCI would listen once in a while to things other than the ka-ching of excess money.

I remember the very first test played in Bangalore (1975 against WI).

I was still at school & paid like 25 rupees for all the days of the test match (Obviously school didn't matter. Richards & Greenidge made debut's. WI flogged India).

To get the ticket, we had to stand in the queue for a long time & almost a month in advance. Stil lot of people missed out.

ODI/TV coverage has killed the audience for test cricket. ODI is too BORING these days.

One thing I must admit. The ODI has certainly helped the test matches for the better (Faster run rates & no DULL draws even after 5 days). But, it's killed off the true art of spin bowling with Warne & Murali being the exceptions.

I remember, more like a haunting nightmare than a pleasant memory, a fateful day when India played against New Zealand at Nagpur back in 1996 (I think. I don't really recall the exact day, month or even the year. Human brain has the gift of wiping out the details of the bad moments in life, only the effect remains, like a festering wound).
Well, this is what happened. The Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) hosted the match. The tickets were customarily expensive. I managed to get a 'stand' ticket. It cost me a hundred and fifty rupees and that was my entire pocket money for the month (I was in class XI). The word 'stand' assumed its literal and most horrific meaning when fifteen thousand or so people really had to stand the entire duration of the match. Sitting was out of question as the 'stands' were nothing but stairs of concrete. The legendary Nagpur heat was not a valid reason for the stands to be covered. So we were standing and risking mass sun strokes. I remember we did not mind or care. We were too busy being shell shocked by the pummeling that Indian bowlers were receiving from the moody Nathan Astle.
When the NZ innings ended, fifteen thousand bladders in the stand had to be relieved, same number of stomachs to be fed and same number of throats to be watered. But the bodies were not moving. How could they? Someone had decided that only one gate of the stands would be open during the lunch break. The collective might of bladders, stomachs and throats was too much for sunstroked brains. All the fifteen thousand people tried to get out of the single Gate. There was a wall covering the periphery of the gate. It really was not a wall. You cannot call a mesh of half bricks loosely held together with sprinkling of cement a wall. Naturally it had to collapse.
What I saw next is a sight I will take to grave. There were people falling off the stadium like grains of sand from a hand. They fell on top of people standing below. It lasted two, maybe three most shocking minutes of many people's lives.
I don't really recall the number of deaths or injured. Another detail blocked out by my brain. What I do is the sight of heap of bodies, some of them twitching in agony.
I was numb after what I saw. So shocked, that I barely recall going back home riding pillion on my friend's moped. We could not imagine watching the match after that. But the match continued. India lost. Badly. On all counts.
I have never been able to shrug off the feeling of an icy shiver rising up my spine whenver I went back to VCA stadium.

Mukul: This incident may not be conspicuously related to your piece. But dig deeper and you could see the same underlying apathy and even hostility of the administrators towards the fan. A fan who stands eight hours in the sun just to watch his idols perform, who starves and stays parched just to clap for his heroes, who travels great distances to just be within two hundred meters of our cricketers, is a nobody for the administrators of the game. Those horrible deaths did not change it. So nothing else will.

Today i read that Indian Team is going to have one side game in its tour to Australia before it plays 4 test matches. and our Mr. Nirajan Shah says where is the time to play side games. This from a high profile administrator in BCCI.
This amply proves Board is interested in just making money. Winning is just a byproduct which if happens is good.
India has won just 2 test matches in last 3 yrs in Australia and this time around we will again see the same old story of india losing.
As long as indian cricket administrators are interested in just money , such state of affairs will continue and we will have occasional victories but never a great team.
I dont know when will our Board wake up to the need to be a champion team.

FYI...we, Bangladeshis do have a great time watching cricket on tv...we might not visit our UGLY stdiums..(not sure how much of a paradise the indian stdiums are..lol).u dont know much about dhaka..as u've said...then y comment on that...for the sake of sarcasm..is it?
and the weather...how can the indian teams be all so dried up when they are LIVING nd plying their whole life in INDIA...not in newzealand for God's sake..who do you want to pamper..btw..i dont see much difference at all between dhaka and delhi...we might just be a bit cleaner.where do ur cricketer lives?

Mukul, I don't think the under 30 spectatorship for test cricket exceeds 5% of the total including TV viewers.When I mean "spectatorship", I am talking about folks who would watch Test cricket uninterrupted for at least one session: be it pre lunch, post lunch or post tea. It is distressing since I remember 15 years ago, there were people gathering around TV sets in show rooms to watch the final day of the Hariyana Mumbai Ranji final. Haryana won by six runs but what a match that was: You had a young Tendulkar and a veteran Vengsarkar putting Kapil and Chetan Sharma to sword, only for the wily Kapil to exact his revenge. Only 5 day matches, be it a good Ranji trophy final or a test match can bring about the kind of drama and a slowly building climax that is sraight out of a Hitchcock movie. Unfortunately, the MTV and Channel V generation find Hitchcock movies, "slow paced, with antiquated sets, no special effects, and boring for the most part." Where Hitchcock reaps this kind of response, test cricket is verily doomed. In addition, I agree with Alok: what little charm Test cricket holds is moslty to a more cosmopolitan audience in Wankhede, Eden Gardens, and Chennai. I still remember the packed stadium in Chennai and Eden Gardens for that India Pakistan series where Tendulkar nearly "won" a test match for us. Feroze Shah Kotla by contrast did not have as many watching Kumble pick up the second 10-for in Test match history. When votes from arcane electoral colleges trump the best interests of the game, only one thing can result: the slow death of test cricket in India.

Yes, ODI cricket has definitely helped test matches to become more exciting and result oriented. What is however turning out to be rather dismal is the declining art of keeping one's wicket intact. We are increasingly seeing teams getting bundled out for totals in the range of 200-250 after batting it out for about 50-60 overs. This simply is NOT test cricket.

Amongst the new generation of Indian batsmen, the willingness to keep one's wicket intact and grind the bowlers is hardly seen. Its no surprise that players like Yuvraj, Dhoni and Raina may do well in ODIs, but if it comes to building long innings there is a lot of scope for such players to improve.

All in all, increasingly flat pitches in test matches all round the world have only made cricket more and more of a batsman's game.

In India, people only line up to see their heroes. How many go to watch a Ranji Trophy match? The "STARS" don't want to play and as a result the "great Indian cricket fan" won't turn up even when admission is free. The gentlemen took his family to see "Dravid". Would they bother to watch Punjab (or Haryana) play anyone. Compare this with domestic matches in England or Australia - both from player participation and spectator interest. I remember that in Australia, at one time, televised cricket was not shown in the city where the match was being played. If you wanted to see the match you had to get up and go to the stadium. Don't know if that is still the rule. Perhaps if such a rule is introduced in India, test matches will have full houses.

Mukul - You missed the point wrt stadium attendence in England. Add the English, SA, NZ and Aussie test attendance to the high attendances of baseball matches in the US (81 home games and 65K seats = 5.3 million seats/year), there is an interesting common line.

In these places, matches are considered as entertainment and facilities are provided to the fans and their families to be entertained during the whole day (or 4 hrs in case of baseball matches). There is a museum, recreation activities and (in test matches) - during breaks, the kids are allowed to play on the field (except on the playing area, for the obvious reasons). A family comes to the test match/baseball match for entertainment and are well served.

compare that to the dingy stadiums, atrocious attitude of BCCI, lack of sanitary and food facilities in Indian stadiums, i am not surprised that we will soon see the death of test cricket attendances in the sub-continent

WRT ODI cricket, the best example is the American football season (8 home games, 70% of tickets blocked for season-ticket holders, hysterical fans etc)

I am not going to argue which version of cricket is good as I get excited and interested where ever there is a good game no matter who plays and where and what. However I would certainly like to comment on how the administrators (BCCI and ICC) are killing this game both versions. BCCI for making this a money making machine and ICC with its egoistic personnel.

There are two things that always bewilder me about cricket and fail to explain to some of friends in the USA and other non-cricketing nations is 1) There should always be only two results when a game is played, win or loose, its a different matter if it rains out or something like that, but why there a 'draw' which makes the Test a bit boring sometimes. Secondly why do they continue to play the series even after the series has already been decided except for a few stars adding more records to their tally and administrators to pocket some more money. I strongly believe that if these two are eliminated then cricket could gain back some lost spectatorship.

Mukul for president of the BCCI.

Sir your observation that the TNCA does small things right is absolutley short sighted.The prices for the matches conducted here are very costly.Only one stand has a 200 vrupees ticket.Even the Challenger Series Tickets cost Rs.250.,Then consider test matches....As far as the Food staals and restrooms go...they are not even commentable...

I have been a spectator in both stadiums in Mumbai in mid 90's and have also been in both the stadium in Dhaka including SBN stadium where the recent matches (2 ODI, 1 Test) between Bangladesh and India were played. Which were the 'ugliest'? The two in Mumbai by miles! I was almost suffocated in Wankhede Stadium.

In its bid to make as much money as insanely possible, BCCI has forgotten the people solely responsible for generating revenues for them: the spectators. There is no consideration for the spectator. Taking up Wankhede as the example, it has probably the worst amenities possible. You are not allowed any food/drink inside. The food sold is pathetic, lesser said about those plastic bags of water. There are better toilet facilities in Sulabh Shauchalays across the city than those inside the stadium. And most importantly seating: either concrete slabs or wooden benches. It's hard to beleive that MCA or BCCI can not afford permanent seating. All in all, you've better got to be a die hard fan of test cricket if you wanted to go to Wankhede to watch a game.

Big money is ruining the game in India, big money is ruining India, look at the shambolic dealings between BCCI, Nimbus, Doordharshan et al. This is symptomatic of a system where the divide between the mega wealthy and mega poor is greater than anywhere else in the World. Where second rate actors and cricketers are worshiped like Gods, while people are starving by the million.

An Aussie would sum it up appropriately with a curse more eloquent than the hypocritical good manners in our country permit.

I agree with you Mukul, despite your recent predilection for emotive rants, you're making a strong case here that needs to be heard by the fat, grey skinned capitalists who run the game.

Everyone knows that the best cricket is played infront of a packed house because that is when players lift beyond the conscious level and the game becomes something akin to spiritual.

How can we take the fat, grey skinned capitalists out of the game? It all starts with the BCCI, there the asses who make these ridiculous deals to play Mickey Mouse tournaments for the benefit of none but Swiss bank accounts.

Who's got a non violent suggestion to oust these bloated pigs?

To arun visvanathan, you are right. Here in Australia, unless the match is a sellout, a test or ODI is not shown on local TV. For example if the first three days of a test match in Brisbane is sold out, those first three days are telecast in Brisbane, along with the rest of the country. The next two days however, are not, encouraging people to get down to the grounds and cheer the boys home.

I have not been to the subcontinent so I am in no way an expert, but I do read the blogs written by people from the region, along with the associated comment. As someone on the outside looking in, it seems to me that the business of the sport has taken away from the pleasure of it. We look forward to the upcoming cricket season every year here and winter is difficult for a lot of us. We like to see good hard cricket between nations who wear their country's pride on their chests; we like to see handshakes after the game; most of all, we love to go the cricket.

I live in Brisbane and when you purchase a ticket to the cricket, be it a ODI or a test, your ticket gives you free public transport to and form the ground. Would that be attractive to people on the sub continent? I agree, the food and drink at our grounds is expensive and yes, the fun police wrecked a lot of things last summer, but still, a great day was there to be had. We have our share of bozos who give the majority of us cricket lovers a bad name (it is only very few of us who hurl abuse at opposing team members), but a lot of us now are reporting these incidents to the authorities who are then removing these fools.

My point? Cricket is a game. As long as kids and their families can go to the cricket, kids will dream of being the next Sachin or Anil, and you will have up and coming cricketers ready to fill the roles left vacant by your retiring heroes.

By the way, I can't wait for the Indians to once again tour Australia. We look forward to seeing them here.

The test audience in India is way ahead than the subcontinental brothers and thats a fact. You can expect a Eden Gardens to be jam packed on day 1, day 4 and day 5 when the result is likely and to be in favor of India. I certainly remember the epic Test series of 2001 between India and Australia when entire 5 days in Kolkata were jam packed even on day 1 and day 2 when India was in dire straits. The crowd eruption when Bhajji took the hattrick was unbelieveable.

Ditto for a Pakistan series in 2005. Every major Test ground in India has an unique attendance and with major teams playing the cricket in India is a housefull affair, no matter the conditions in the ground are pathetic and inhuman.

And India have not hosted a minnow Zimbabwe since 5 years and BD are yet to tour India for a Test series. So no cheap wins for India at home. True they havent played a home Test for more than a year now, but last England series was a sell out too when 30000 odd spectators saw India being bundled out for 100 in final innings.

The facilities on the grounds can be increased and the minimum bare facilities can be provided to the spectator

I fully agree with the pitiful state of our stadia in India. I have traveled the breadth of the Indian subcontinent to watch test matches and ODIs in Chennai (M A Chidambaram), Goa (Nehru), Mohali (the best of the lot), Kotla (Delhi), Wankhade (Mumbai), Keenan (Jamshedpur), Kochi, Guwahati, Dhaka (Bangabandhu), Eden Gardens (Kolkatta), SSC (Colombo), Green Park (Kanpur), and Lords (London).

As a student of event management, we were taught in our first few classes that some of the critical issues in managing public functions and events are (1) the physical distance between people, (ii) the ease with which you could find your way out of your seat/ space to the washroom(s); and (iii) the number and size of common/ empty spaces around the seating/ viewing area where one could take take breaks. The Lords and Mohali are far better on these three criteria.

Sports and casual entertainment events tend to attract people in small groups who want to be together within themselves and apart from "others". Contrasted from "formal" entertainment events like a classical music concert.

So, when we advocate for improvement of sporting infrastructure, we need these three - ability to get together among friends and get away from others; ease of moving in and out of our assigned seats/ spaces; and common spaces for taking breaks. And this is true for all stadia. If you want to experience what it takes to build a stadium like this, visit the JN hockey stadium in Chennai. Beautiful!

The sad reality is the desire to promote one day cricket to fill the coffers of the BCCI has become so deep rooted that it has affected both players and spectators alike.In the desire to get new viewers we have missed out on genuine lovers of test cricket .I would like to believe I am one such.The other problem in India is the absence of a test calendar.When I was young{God it seems so long ago}, January 14th was a red letter day for us.It was test match day in Madras as it used to be called those days.It was a bit like the Boxing day test match.Now when will test matches happen in India?
God knows.The association that dominates the game internationally is unable to run it locally .Because the priority is about money.The game be damned.We need more people like you to recreate and further the love for test cricket.Nice piece.

The real cricket is test cricket, no doubt about it. We can find everything in test. It takes 5 days for complete game & chances of draw is more than win or loss. So I think one team can't play more than 150 overs in an innings will good & it's help to pure result. Than Everybody who love cricket is enjoing from it & viwers will be increase.

Mukul, wonderful article. Some great posts too. It is truly a painful sight to see hard working people shelling out large sums of money and then having to put up with the crappy facilities. Rohit's post about the Nagpur debacle was chilling. Its hard to believe that the Kotla still holds international matches. Very appropriately called a drain by Mukul.
To the "Anonymous" gentleman/lady with the post on stadiums in Bangladesh, I think you've missed the point of this article completely. This is not a India-Bangladesh comparison. And yes, there are many stadiums in India which are terribly ugly or a India-Bangladesh comparison. This is about the plight of spectators wanting to watch a game in India.

I would go one step further and ask why we need to charge anything at all for the general stands during tests? Sure, lets charge the 'premium' stands which are targetted to those customers with paying power, but why bother to ask for 50 or 100 rupees from the common man - even 10,000 seats sold at that price will hardly make any money when compared to the revenue from TV rights. In the subcontinent, any seat not adequately protected from the elements should be free of cost purely on ethical grounds.

I've long belived that venues with empty seats (anywhere in the world, for any sport) should just invite school children to fill up the spaces and give free refreshments to ensure the kids have a great day and hopefully be inspired to take up sport. But that's just wishful thinking.

By the way, Mukul, before anyone starts believing that watching cricket in England is a real and affordable joy, the tickets in England are widely considered a rip-off. Hardly any tickets are for 15 pounds, and if they are you often get a lousy view. A typical English family of 4 cannot really afford to spend 50 pounds per head for a day at the Lords test (add to that the most expensive public transport in the western world and the exhorbitantly priced food/drinks inside). Yes, the grounds are full, but not by the typical cricket lover bringing his young ones to watch, but mostly blokes with expendable income who love beer and cross dressing more than the cricket itself. For lots of them, cricket's an excuse to get together, drink and dress silly.

Still, I cannot deny that they do have fun, and do fill the stadiums and make noise and do Mexican waves that upset the old farts sitting in the members stand, for which I'd happilly absolve them of their varied sins.

I don't know whether I am missing the point completely, but I watched the Bd-India test on TV, and by the looks of it, attendance seemed to be quite reasonable. Also, the ctg test seemed to draw a lot of attention despite the bad weather. Regarding the 'ugly' stadiums in Dhaka, I think the new stadium in Mirpur is quite fantastic in terms of facilities for the players and the spectators. The stadium is still a work-in-process, and I hope by the time it finishes, it is going to be one of the more pretty cricket stadiums in the world. We can't do much about the gloomy blue sky though....!

One cannot expect crowds in Bangladesh for test matches - they haven't won anything yet. Whatever audience comes, it is mostly when Bangladesh is having a good session or two. Now that is their choice. And it is easier braving the cold with some tipple in hand to keep you warm than braving extreme heat and humidity in shadeless stands; so I don't blame the Bangladeshis for not turning up...

About the drain called Kotla (it is an effort to watch a match there), I usually try and take in a test match there whenever it is held, and especially in winters. I have always found the stands rather full. Not overcrowded like it might be for an ODI, but sufficiently crowded to be of some discomfort and educative of various body odors and deodorants in currency.

I miss the days where we'd take a picnic hamper to a cricket match at Kotla (test, Ranji, Irani etc), spread out our sheet on the cement/grass tiers just outside the Willingdon Pavilion, and waffle down the goodies from our hamper over the day. All the while we'd keep scores, discuss, debate, critique, yell and shout, clap and admire, meet up with every player on either team, collect their autographs (sometimes in duplicates and triplicates for anyone who couldn't make it to the ground that day!), listen to commentary on transistors sitting there at the ground, despite Joga Rao, Jasdev Singh et al. broadcasting for AIR from just a bound away from us, on top and behind the sightscreen. They'd have wooden tables covered with white bedsheets to keep their mikes on, and those wooden chairs (later metal) with red rexine cushions that every tent house then would provide for public gatherings.

Oh those were fun days! I met up with so many greats of late sixties and early seventies then....they'd have time to speak with you when practicing before start of day's play, might even call you over to lob balls at them and offer batting/bowling tips in exchange....times have changed now; I understand that....that picturesque and easy Ferozeshah Kotla with its elegant Willingdon Pavilion is no more...just a drain and effort now.

Nice article and many enlightening posts. I hail from Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The city has a strong cricket culture with pretty decent grounds some managed by railways and others by Schools like Mayo and Mayur. Mayo used to host young under 19 sides from PAk and England and Ranji Matches in old times, The stadiums are not that handsomely built but are a wonderful effort by the school, esp. one could get fast and bouncy wickets, lush green outfields (in desert state rajasthen)and sight screens and decent crowds to cheer you if you played that perfect cover drive or hooked the ball for six. Having played there myself, I think that apart from improving the facilities at the test venues, which is a must, one should provide the local stadiums some funds to raise their standards. I have seen balls bouncing over the head and a good carry to the keeper( I kept wickets for my team) than you would find in the state managed stadium which was a bowler's graveyard.
Attendance was mostly fans: school children, and railway employees who always knew the local lads.
Typically matches would start at 0600 Local time and would be played till late afternoons, culminating in post match get togethers involving spectators too..