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Tests should be reduced to four-day games: Dilip Vengsarkar
Follow UsIn the last 25 Tests played in India, 12 have finished within three days, while seven have been completed in four days
Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar feels the time is right for the International Cricket Council to make Tests four-day affairs. The last two games of the three-match series between India and New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai got over inside three days. The opening Test in Bengaluru did last until the fifth day but only because the first day of the match was completely washed out.
In the last 25 Tests played in India, 12 have finished within three days, while seven have been completed in four days. A pink-ball Test between India and England in Ahmedabad ended in just two days. Similarly, the surfaces in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been spin-friendly, and not too many Tests have lasted five days. South Africa, where the pitches are conducive to fast bowling, have also seen many two-to-three-day finishes in the last few years.
"Tests should be reduced to four-day games because most of the matches are getting over in under four days. Also, most of the affiliated boards of the International Cricket Council, apart from India, Australia, and England, are not in good financial condition, so four-day Tests could save them some expenses,” Vengsarkar told the Times of India.
“It is financially draining and too expensive for a team like West Indies to travel for Test matches to the rest of the world. Besides, it's unfair to sell tickets for five days when the matches are getting over in three days.”
As Virat Kohli has suggested so many times in the past, Vengsarkar also wants the Board of Control for Cricket in India to conduct Test matches in bigger cities and give the other two white-ball formats to the rest of the centers across India.
"The support the Mumbaikars provided to Test cricket was overwhelming. As compared to the other venues during this series, they turned up in huge numbers even for a dead rubber. I guess the time has come to stage cricket only at Test centres like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai. The One-Dayers and T20Is can be staged at the rest of the centres.”
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