Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman has rejected the idea of having four-day Test matches, saying reducing the length of the game by a day will reduce the chances of it yielding the desired results.
“I am not really a fan of this four-day Test cricket, five days fits perfect because it gets more results and reducing it the four days will not achieve the desired results according to me,” Laxman said while speaking on Star Sports’ ‘Cricket Connected’ show.
“Another point aspect is the toss, especially during the overseas tour the captain from the visiting side gets to decide what he wants to choose because we want to see teams travelling and winning matches on away turf which makes it more interesting for spectators,” he added.
The ICC cricket committee is considering having four-day Tests a part of the World Test Championship from 2023. The ICC’s increasing demand for event windows, the proliferation of domestic T20 leagues, BCCI’s demands for its own sizeable share of bilateral calendar space, and the costs of staging Test series are all said to be the factors contributing to the move.
Earlier, several cricketers including batting great Sachin Tendulkar, current India skipper Virat Kohli, former opener Gautam Gambhir and current Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur had also objected to the ICC’s idea even as retired former all-rounder Irfan Pathan had lent his support to the four-day Tests.
India head coach Ravi Shastri had, in fact, termed the idea as ‘nonsense’ and said if the world body wants to trim the current format, the top six Test-playing nations shouldn’t be included in the experiment.