In a recent turn of events, ICC Cricket Committee member Mahela Jayawardene on Wednesday has stated that Test matches should remain a five-day match. His revelation is significant since the Cricket Committee, of which Jayawardene is a part of, is going to discuss curtailing the traditional format of the game to just four in a meeting scheduled in March.

Earlier, former Indian captain Anil Kumble, who is the chief of the ICC cricket committee, confirmed that four-day Test proposal would be discussed in the next round of the ICC meetings which are to be held in Dubai from March 27-31.

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The Sri Lankan legend stated that he personally does not want too much alteration to the Test match format.

“We will discuss it in the meeting (in March, and I don’t know what will happen after that but my personal opinion is that it should remain for five days. I would not want any change,” he told PTI.

It is worth noting that the likes of Andrew Strauss, Rahul Dravid, and Shaun Pollock are also part of the cricket committee.

Notably, the proposal which is in consideration for the 2023-2031 cycle, has not received positive feedback from some of the current and former greats of the game including Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.

While the member boards like the England Cricket Board and Cricket Australia are welcome to the idea, BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly has stated that perhaps “it is too early” to talk about the idea.

Prior to the beginning of the T20I series against Sri Lanka in Guwahati last week, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had his stance very clear.

“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,” he had said.

“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,” he concluded.

For the unversed, the four-day Tests have already happened. While England-Ireland played a four-day Test last year, South Africa-Zimbabwe also played a four-day Test in 2017.