Ravi Shastri has reiterated that Test cricket should be kept to the top six teams to make the format financially viable.
Test cricket is facing a threat with the advent of shorter formats, with its participation becoming increasingly restricted to the ‘Big Three’ – India, Australia and England – due to financial constraints. Speaking at MCC World Cricket Connects 2024 at Lord's, Shastri proposed a radical change "to sustain the interest in Test cricket".
According to him, the teams can be divided equally into two different tiers with a system of promotion and relegation in place to ensure competitive matches regularly.
Shastri explained: "When you don’t have quality, that is when the ratings drop. There are fewer people in the crowd. Its meaningless cricket, which is the last thing the sport wants.
"When you add the word Test cricket, the question asked is, is it really a test? Why do people who have played all formats love Test cricket? Because it tests you. When you don’t get that kind of competition, people lose interest which is not good for the game.
“You have 12 Test match teams. Bring it down to six or seven and have a promotion and relegation system. You can have two tiers but let the top six keep playing to sustain the interest in Test cricket."
The former India head coach and international opined that T20 is the format which should be used to increase the global footprint of the game. "You can spread the game in other formats, like T20," he added.
Not the first time Shastri has said so
Shastri originally put forward this suggestion for the first time while working for Sky Sports as a pundit in 2022. “You keep the top six, keep the quality and respect quality over quantity,” he said on air in 2022.
He cited the example of football as a sport in which the calendar largely revolves around club fixtures, with its flagship international matches being mostly limited to global tournaments.
“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.”
Among other notable figures who shared their input at the MCC meeting, Australia Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins advocated for dedicated windows for Test cricket so that players who want to play franchise leagues could plan their schedule without jeopardising their participation in the oldest format.
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