Kevin Pietersen has voiced his concerns over the direction in which international cricket is headed, suggesting that it might not be long before only a select few teams play the longest format.

The past month has seen an acceleration of the debate around cricket’s jam-packed schedule, and around the primacy of international cricket over the increasing number of franchise T20 competitions played across the world. Ben Stokes’ ODI retirement and South Africa’s forfeiting of an ODI series to stage their own T20 competition have been used to argue that the days of international cricket as the game’s pinnacle are numbered.

Pietersen, who has previously been vocal about the advantages of playing in leagues such as the IPL, opened up on how the increase in T20 leagues could have an impact on Test cricket, predicting that in a few years’ time, only the major nations will be playing the prestigious format.

“I’ve said previously that I think by 2025, only the major nations will ever play Test cricket,” he wrote for Betway. “I know they hate me saying it, but any Test series involving New Zealand or West Indies or any other nation outside the very biggest could fall by the wayside. I can see a scenario where by 2025 the only Test cricket is the Ashes, England v India, Australia v India, India v Pakistan and other landmark series, unless they start paying Test match cricketers crazy money. I’ve written about how the ECB can save the England team before, but not every nation will be able to afford it.”

The bilateral white-ball cricket schedule might also suffer, according to Pietersen, something which could have a ripple effect on Test cricket.

“Bilateral white-ball series are in trouble, too,” he said. “It feels like nobody has really noticed England’s games against India and South Africa this summer, and the Proteas have pulled out of a tour to Australia next year to prioritise their new T20 competition. It makes me very sad because internationals, particularly Tests, are still the purest form of the game. But we have to accept that as time goes on, the power of franchise cricket is going to turn more and more heads.”

Apart from stressing how the sport is changing, Pietersen also pointed out that this isn’t just down to the players and the administrators. Citing his son as an example, he also talked about how the younger generations are instantly attracted to the shortest format, largely because of its ability to deliver a result in quick time.

“It’s not just the players and administrators involved who will increasingly drift away from the international game,” he said. “I think we underplay how differently the younger generation are consuming content. These days, they’re not even interested by Whatsapp! My son’s favourite competition is The Hundred. He loves it. He’s a Southern Brave fan, his favourite player is Chris Jordan and he wants to go and watch them whenever possible. Young people are much more interested when the game moves quickly, it’s a fun atmosphere and they see a result in no time.”