Former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers isn’t happy that India played only two Tests during the recently-completed tour to the Rainbow Nation and has blamed the rise of T20 leagues across the world for the situation.
India and South Africa shared the Test series 1-1 after the visitors bounced back strongly from a humiliating innings and 32 run loss in the Boxing Day Test, to pocket the second game inside two days in Cape Town by seven wickets.
A veteran of 114 Tests, the right-hander advocated for longer Test series, while pointing out that “something has to change” if the best Test team in the world is to be identified.
“I am not happy that there is not a third Test. You have to blame the T20 cricket going around the world for that. I do not know whom to blame, but I sense something is wrong. If you want to see all the teams compete and see who is the best Test team in the world, something has to change,” de Villiers said.
Cricket South Africa’s decision to prioritise their domestic T20 league — SA20, and send a second string side for the two-Test series in New Zealand has already been criticised globally.
With the majority of their first choice players opting for the second season of the SA20 league, running from January 10 to February 10, and clashing with the Test series against the BlackCaps, the Proteas have named as many as seven uncapped players in the squad, including Neil Brand, the captain.
“It (South Africa’s Test squad for New Zealand) has sent shockwaves around the cricketing world and has made it clear that Test cricket is under pressure, for that matter even ODI cricket and the whole system is turning around T20 cricket,” de Villiers said.
“The players, the board and coaches will turn towards where there is more money. You cannot blame them for thinking about their future with their family,” he added.
Cape Town pitch ‘stock-standard’
Defending the surface at the New Year’s Test match that saw the game being completed inside five sessions, de Villiers termed it as “pretty stock-standard”.
“It was a pretty stock-standard wicket, in my opinion. I remember jumping around there on day one,” he said. “If you can just get through the first session on day one, it gets easier.”
The former Proteas batter raised questions of the batting prowess on offer from both the teams and how the bowlers encashed on the opportunity.
“If you see the players playing their shots and not hanging around, they were doing well. I remember Ben Stokes scoring a double-hundred there. I scored some hundreds there. You cannot allow bowlers like Vernon Philander, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Sir, Kagiso Rabada to keep bowling on off stump,” he added.