'Test cricket should not be tinkered with', Tendulkar echoes Kohli's words on ICC's proposal of four-day Tests
Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has lashed out at ICC's proposal to reduce Test matches to four days. Tendulkar joined a long list of current and former players, including Virat Kohli and Ricky Ponting, who have opted out of endorsing four-day Tests as proposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Making his stance extremely clear, Sachin Tendulkar told Mid-Day that reducing the duration of the Test matches would indirectly effect the health of the longest format as both spinners and fast bowlers will battle undue pressures of performing during four days. According to him, cricket's purest format isn't something that should be tinkered with as removing a day wouldn't help the cause at all. He explained:
“Spinners look forward to bowling with the scruffed ball, taking advantage on day five of the roughs created on the wickets... All that is part of Test cricket. Is it fair to take that advantage away from spinners? There is T20, there is one-dayers and then there are T10 and 100-ball cricket. Test is the purest form of cricket. It should not be tinkered with.”
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Advocating the importance of five days of cricket, Tendulkar questioned the number of dead rubbers being played throughout the world due to average and unsporting pitches. He advised the ICC to focus on providing quality pitches that can last all days and has something for everyone. He said:
“The ICC, in my view, should focus on providing quality playing surfaces. Let the ball do things - spin, seam, swing, and bounce. It will automatically liven-up the game. It will also throw up more results. Currently, there are far too many dead games.”
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Talking to the reporters recently, Indian captain Virat Kohli rubbished any support to four-day Tests and stated that the beauty of Test cricket was to battle it out for five continuous days, testing each cricketer's endurance levels to the core. Kohli said:
"I am not a fan... I think the intent will not be right because then you will speak of three-day Tests... Where do you end? Then you will speak of Test cricket disappearing. I don't endorse that at all... I don't think that's fair to the purest format of the game, how cricket started initially...Five-day Test matches was the highest you can have at the international level. According to me, it shouldn't be altered."
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