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The rising hype of T20 cricket has witnessed exciting tournaments such as the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Big Bash League (BBL) and the Pakistan Premier League (PSL) grow to the next level.
Amid the rise of the shortest format leagues, several cricket pundits are worried whether the traditional format of the game, Test cricket, will be discontinued due to a lack of interest from players and spectators.
Lalit Modi, the man behind the inception of IPL, has proposed an exciting measure to save the longest format of the game.
With an aim of saving Test cricket, the former IPL chairman suggested that Test teams should be owned by the IPL franchises.
“The only way Test cricket will work, somebody`s going to shoot me for saying this. First time I`m saying this. Let the IPL teams own Test cricket teams. You got the youngsters, you got the loyalty factors. You play your country versus country, without doubt, that`s premier,” he said on The Overlap Podcast.
“I`m saying you have it as a world championship that goes around the world every year, you play those without doubt, but also so that it doesn`t disappear, you have exhibition matches starting off with it–teams playing test cricket. At least play one in a season between each other just to get their youngsters back into the game. That`s going to be like club cricket. You have club cricket in everything. But the primary has to be country versus country,” added Modi.
He also feels that if the team owners want to build a good and loyal relationship with the players, they need to acquire their services at a young age.
“And if you want to build loyalty with the youngsters, you got to catch them young and you`ve got to give them the experience,” he said.
Considering the amount of importance Test cricket is given in Australia and England, players from other countries are not able to experience the heat of the format due to a lack of play, Modi stated.
“I hope Test cricket survives because I love Test cricket. You look at the generation that is growing up now. Unfortunately, they are not experiencing it anywhere else except in Australia and England. These are the only two countries that are actually keeping the level of Test up because of the Ashes and because of the English season, and you have the advantage of that, but the rest of the world, Test is dying,” he said.
The former IPL chairman concluded by saying that a Test match should be a four-day game and played in a day-night mode.
“Now people think I`m crazy to suggest this, but I care about it, and my suggestion has always been, and since 2007, I`ve been saying this: Tests should turn into a four-day game, it should be day and night. People don`t have the luxury today to go out there and spend four days all day sitting in the sun and drinking beer. I`m sorry. Those were the good old days when you had a single-channel television and the Test was rare and not accessible with media today, available to you on the fly. Every match around the world is available to you,” he signed off.
(With ANI Inputs)
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