"No Sense To Reward Test Status To Afghanistan And Ireland"- Ian Chappell

The Test Cricket Season has started with a bang as Australia won a hard-fought Test Match against West Indies. On the other side, there is a grueling battle going on between England and Pakistan. Test Cricket is considered to be the pinnacle as the teams have to be spot-on with their game plan.

The upcoming 2-3 months would be quite fascinating as the focus turns to World Test Championship (WTC 2021-23). Australia currently is at the top of the standings. The much anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy is scheduled in February which would most likely decide the finalists of WTC 2021-23.

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Ian Chappell On Afghanistan and Ireland

Ian Chappell made stunning remarks in his column on ESPNcricinfo and made strong remarks on Test Cricket. “Test cricket is a tough but rewarding game and players deserve the opportunity to participate in the format if that is their choice. However, Tests are also steeped in culture and that requires the countries involved to have a strong first-class infrastructure,” said Ian Chappell.

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“Consequently, it makes no sense to reward Afghanistan and Ireland, two recent recipients of Test status, neither of whom have the grounds or the infrastructure to reasonably expect that status. Sadly, Test status is best confined to the eight nations who have had a long-standing culture of the format.” he added

Steep Road ahead for ICC

With the ever-changing landscape of Cricket, the ICC must find a way to increase Test playing nations. As mentioned by Chappell, only 8 nations have the culture and infrastructure of Test Cricket. There is no doubt that the introduction of WTC has done wonders for Test Cricket but still, the associate nations are struggling to get there.

In 2018 Afghanistan and Ireland were granted Test Status. But in 4 years, these two nations haven’t played ample matches to showcase their credentials. Afghanistan’s test match against Australia was canceled by Cricket Australia (CA) due to Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) policy.

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