June heat, empty stadiums; Questions raised on BCCI on holding test match in Mullanpur

By Samira Vishwas On Jun 7, 2026

The one-off Test between India and Afghanistan is going on at the Maharaja Yadvendra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. In this match, Team India is batting first after winning the toss. Despite the presence of big players like KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj in the Indian team, the stadium looks empty. Due to the scorching heat, spectators have come in very small numbers.

The temperature in Mullanpur is around 40 degrees Celsius, due to which the condition of the players is also miserable. Seeing this, social media users have started criticizing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). People say whose brainchild is it to hold a Test match in North India in the heat of June? Let us tell you that for the first time a Test match is being played in this new stadium of Punjab Cricket Association located in Mullanpur. This is also being cited as a reason for the low number of viewers.

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Advice to hold test match in Chennai or Bengaluru

Seeing the empty stadium in Mullanpur, people have advised BCCI that Test matches should be organized in South India in the summer season from now on. For this he has suggested the names of MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

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Test cricket should be limited to main centers only…

India played its previous Test in Guwahati, when the Barsapara Cricket Stadium hosted a Test match for the first time. It became India’s 30th Test venue. Now Mullanpur has become the 31st test venue of the country. Due to less interest of spectators in small cities, the discussion of limiting Test cricket to main centers has started once again. The 5 main centers of India are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Kanpur. Virat Kohli has also said during his captaincy tenure that Test cricket in India should be played only at main centres.