Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg believes that the ICC’s World Test Championship isn’t competitive enough, and wants it to be scrapped in favour of series that would bind viewers more to the on-field action.
India are set to tour Australia for a four-Test series at the end of this year, but while the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is generally considered to be a high-profile contest between two of the world’s top teams, Hogg isn’t fully convinced of its appeal.
Instead, the left-arm wristspinner proposed that Australia face old rivals England in an Ashes series, while India take on Pakistan, whenever cricket resumes in the post-Covid-19 world.
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“Viewers want to see some competitive cricket, so scrap the World Test Championship (WTC) for a while and get a couple of series that are really going to ignite the interest around the world,” Hogg said. “Firstly, scrap this summer’s India series against Australia and have the Ashes played instead.
“But on the flip side of not having India there, where do they play? They play a four-match series against Pakistan during the Christmas period – two matches in Pakistan and two matches in India. We have not seen it (Indo-Pak Test series) for a while and the public is starving for it.”
Hogg’s suggestion follows in the path of a proposal by Shoaib Akhtar, who called for a resumption in cricketing ties between India and Pakistan.
The two arch-rivals haven’t played a bilateral series since 2012-13, when Pakistan visited India for three ODIs and two T20Is. Their last Test engagement took place way back in 2007/08, when Pakistan visited India for a three-match series.
