Virat Kohli's support gives David Gower hope for the future of cricket testing | Cricket News



[ad_1]

LONDON: The inexorable rise of Twenty20 cricket has raised fears that the test format will be seriously compromised – but the longest form of the game has a powerful defender in India, Captain Virat Kohli.

The popularity of T20 quickfire matches is particularly striking in the Indian Premier League, where players earn big money playing in front of crowded venues.

The tests on the other hand – outside of England and Australia – are often played in front of sparse crowds in large arenas echoing.

But former English captain David Gower said that the comments of Kohli, the best drummer in the world, during the defeat of the 4-1 test series in India this year in England, are important.

"We had a fantastic series against India, closer than the margin suggests," said Gower, one of the leading test drummers of his day, during the first conversation public on cricket organized by Ranji Memorial in London.

"It's a reflection of the balance of power if Virat says that – you have a lot of people going to listen," explained Gower, who said that the introduction of the "balance of power, a test world championship next year would contribute to broader context for the matches.

Kohli insisted that the cricket test was "the most beautiful format of the game" despite the razzmatazz and the hype around shorter formats.

And no one should doubt what it would mean for Kohli's when he led India to the first victory of his Test series in Australia during a next four-game campaign.

He does, however, object to 141-year-old format matches being reduced from five to four to make them more attractive – England will play a four-day match against Test newcomers Ireland in July.

India is the undisputed financial center of cricket in the world. Its audience of over one billion people generates huge commercial and audiovisual revenues.

The tours made by India push up the bank balances of their opponents, allowing local councils to sell their television rights to the lucrative market of the sub-continent.

The former Indian wicketkeeper, Farokh Engineer, said the Cricket Control Council in India had been "blinded" by Twenty20 at the expense of a global vision.

"India has been somehow blinded by the T20, the IPL," said Engineer, expressing himself alongside Gower. "Your first priority is to play for your country and the riches will come automatically."

This engineer took part in 46 tests in a little over 13 years, while the recently retired English drummer, Alastair Cook, played 161 test matches in 12 and a half years, which shows just how much the international calendar is cluttered.

Mushtaq Mohammad, a member of the jury, said that it was crucial to make the Cricket Test affordable and that the spectators risked being removed from the game.

"If you want the cricket test to survive, you have to reduce the cost of entry, open the doors, let people in, make it affordable."

With regard to the recent innovation of day-night tests, the former Pakistani drummer added: "In Southeast Asia, the weather is conducive to day-night cricket but do not reduce it not (cricket test). "

Test cricket has declined sharply in the West Indies. He dominated test cricket from the late '70s to the early' 90s playing with a brag-like tune that would appeal to the crowd.

Gower said restoring five-day interest in the Caribbean was not an easy task despite a major injection of funds from the International Cricket Council.

"If you talk about the Caribbean, you do not talk about one nation but several nations," he said. "You talk about socio-economic problems and it's disjointed."

For the traditionalists, it is heartening to see that the debate is not new and that the cricket test is still alive.

"In this ultra-modern era, counter-attractions have multiplied many times … They (young people) simply do not have time to devote to cricket or can not they be disturbed at the tea, then at the local cricket ground? "

This may sound like a contemporary lament, but these words were written by the great Englishman Herbert Sutcliffe after the defeat of his country's Ashes Test series between 1950 and 1951 in Australia.

[ad_2]
Source link