Virat Kohli has endorsed Pink Ball Tests but is not a fan of the ICC proposal of four-day Tests. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
New Delhi:
The previous decade saw a big debate swirling around the health of Test cricket amidst the onslaught from Twenty20 leagues all over the globe. Heading into the new decade, the debate seemed to have reached a crescendo. The ICC (International Cricket Council) wants to try out the four-day Test matches during the next FTP cycle between 2023-2031 in order to get more free days for the commercially lucrative shorter formats. While this is at the proposal stage, Cricket Australia had expressed its intent of trying out the format even though senior bowler Nathan Lyon termed it "ridiculous".
However, Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team skipper has emphatically stated that he is not a fan of four-day cricket as it would diminish the sanctity of Test cricket. Speaking ahead of the first Twenty20 International against Sri Lanka in Barsapara, Guwahati, Kohli outlined his resistance as to why Test cricket should not be tampered with.
"According to me, it should not be altered. As I said, the day-night is another step towards commercialising Test cricket and you know, creating excitement around it, but it can't be tinkered with too much. I don't believe so. You know the Day-Night Test is the most that should be changed about Test cricket, according to me," Kohli said.
The current BCCI regime under Sourav Ganguly has been proactive about Day Night Tests and in October, India and Bangladesh played a Pink Ball Test for the first time in Kolkata which India won by a comfortable margin. Kohli scored a century in that match and the Eden Gardens was packed to witness this newest innovation in Test cricket. Kohli believed the push for a four-day Test will diminish the sanctity of the longest format of the game.
"Then you are purely only talking about getting numbers, entertainment and you know. I think the intent will not be right then because then you will speak of three-day Tests. I mean where do you end. Then you will speak of Test cricket disappearing. So I don't endorse that at all. I don't think that is fair to the purest format of the game. How cricket started initially, and you know five-day Tests was the highest of tests you can have at the International level," Kohli said.
Not only is Test cricket under the scanner, the England and Wales Cricket Board are introducing the 100-format in which only 100 balls will be bowled in the match. Kohli was also not a big fan of this new format. "T20 was a revelation (in terms) of introduction of a new format. I was asked about the 100-ball format (introduced by ECB) and I said I am not going to go and try myself out in another kind of format because there's already so much going on," Kohli said.
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India will take on Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 International in Barsapara and Kohli's team will be determined to open their account at the venue where they lost the first match against Australia by a margin of eight wickets.
