"Test Cricket Will Have To Reduce Number Of Teams That Play, Respect Quality Over Quantity" - Ravi Shastri

Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri called for changes to Test cricket, asserting the need for the introduction of tiers that will help maintain the quality of the longest format.

Shastri said the top 6 teams should be playing Tests, implying that divisions are the way to go forward. Similar to football in England where there are divisions with Premier League being the highest, Test cricket also needs a similar format, as per Ravi Shastri.

“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,” Ravi Shastri told Sky Sports.

“You’re going to have three-day games, two-day games if the opposition is not right” – Ravi Shastri

Shastri felt the lower-ranked teams will not be able to tour tough places like England and India and play for more than 3 days. This will hurt the broadcasters as well as the fans, who want hard-fought games that go down to the wire.

“Because what is Test cricket? It tests you and for that you need quality. If there’s no quality then who’s going to watch it? You’re going to have three-day games, two-day games if the opposition is not right. If you have countries who have never played Test cricket and then you say ‘come to India’ or ‘come to England’, in bowler-friendly conditions the game’s over in two days, two-and-a-half days.”

“And you’ve taken money from the broadcaster for five days. So he’s going to be unhappy, the fans are going to be unhappy and the standard is going to go down. Quality is important and in that format of the game extremely important for cricket to survive in the future,” concluded Ravi Shastri.

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