BCCI in favour of Bangladesh's opposition of the two-tier system

The ICC had announced their plans of looking into a two-tier Test system last month 

ICC was eager to introduce a two-tier system for Test Cricket. Bangladesh was the only team who opposed the proposal. It is learnt as per reports that BCCI is backing Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in their protest against the introduction of ICC’s new venture. The prospect of having a two-tier system was discussed a month ago by ICC.

The matter was brought up in the on-going ICC Annual Meet, being held in Edinburgh. Bangladesh fears that having a two-tier system in Test Cricket would hamper their revenue and would be relegated to the lower tier. The decision would be taken on the basis of the vote by the members of the council. Bangladesh is currently placed 9th as per the ICC rankings and the introduction of the new format would push them down to the second-tier.

According to The Times of India, a top BCCI official said, “We are in development of World Cricket. But a two tier-system in Test Cricket will hamper emerging teams. Therefore, we opposed the proposal in the ICC meet.” It is also learnt that a few members of the ICC are pretty satisfied with the new idea, but the Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka and Bangladesh differ from others.

It was heard before that the top eight ranked teams would play in the Top-Tier. The ninth and tenth ranked team have to play the Intercontinental Cup. Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim was the only active player to criticise the proposal.  

ICC has made many efforts to find ways to revive the lost glory of test cricket. The Majority of the test matches around the world is generally played in front of empty stands. Apart from the Ashes and a few Test series’ featuring India, Test Matches have lost its lustre. The Pink-Ball Test was the first step towards bringing back the popularity in the longest format, now the two-tier system.

The final decision would be taken after a vote by the ICC Full Members.