Ireland And Afghanistan Should Not Have Gotten Test Status: Ian Chappell

Australia icon Ian Chappell slammed the concept of quantity over quality in Test cricket, claiming that countries like Ireland and Afghanistan should never have been given the opportunity.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has pushed for only elite ICC nations to play long-format cricket against one another in order to preserve the format’s quality and authenticity.

Many criticised his viewpoint as elitist, claiming that it would be detrimental to cricket in the future.

Chappel seems to concur with Shastri on the issue, stating that only Test cricket between the top nations is viable.

Realistically Test Cricket Can Be Played Amonghst Only 8 Teams: Ian Chappell

“Whoever thought of giving Ireland and Afghanistan Test status, is off their rocker,” Chappell said.

“For starters, if you’re being realistic you can only play Test cricket between eight teams, Test cricket won’t die in my lifetime, But who’ll be playing it? That’s the big question,” Chappell was quoted as saying by Wide World of Sports.

“If you have not got your best players, is Test cricket worth watching? The answer is probably no. Test cricket is a good game, but it’s got to be well played,” he further added.

“You cannot have 12 teams or ten teams, You keep the top six, keep the quality and respect quality over quantity. That’s the only way you open a window for other cricket to be played. Expand teams in one-day cricket and T20 cricket if you want the game to spread. But Test cricket will have to reduce the number of teams that play.

“The bottom line, it’s the football model. You’ve got the EPL, La Liga, the German league, the South America Copa America. In the future it’s going to be like that, you’ll have one World Cup, the big one and then the rest of it will be all different leagues happening around the world,” Shastri had said.

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