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Shouldn't tinker much with Test cricket - Kohli on four-day Tests

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

India captain Virat Kohli doesn't "endorse" tinkering too much with Test cricket, including reducing it to a four-day affair. Kohli's opinion resonates with those from Vernon Philander and Glenn McGrath, who have strongly voiced their opinion against four-day Tests.

"I don't endorse that at all," Kohli said in Guwahati on Saturday (January 4). "I don't think that is fair to the purest format of the game, how cricket started initially. Five-Day Test matches are the highest of Tests you can have at the international level. According to me, it shouldn't be altered."

The ICC allowed teams to trial four-day Tests in 2017. South Africa and Zimbabwe were the first teams to try it out in 2017, followed by England and Ireland last year but five-day game has remained the norm otherwise.

Kohli has championed the cause of Test cricket since taking over as the India captain, and stressed on the importance the format holds in the cricketing ecosystem. He's even gone as far as suggesting having five strong venues for Test cricket at home and also led India in its first pink-ball Test in Kolkata recently. But that's about as much that should be changed about Test cricket, believes Kohli.

"D/N Test is the most that should be changed about Test cricket according to me," he said. "I am purely only talking about getting the numbers in and the entertainment. The intent otherwise won't be right. Then you'll speak of three-day Tests, where do you end? Then you will speak of Test cricket disappearing .. D/N Test is another step on commercializing Test cricket and creating excitement around it but it can't be tinkered with too much.

"T20 was a revelation in introducing a new format. I was asked about The Hundred and I said I am not going to go and try myself in another format because there's already so much going on," he added.

Vernon Philander has also voiced his reservations against four-day Tests, something that the ICC might consider for the next World Test Championship cycle.

"I hope five-day Test cricket doesn't come to an end," Philander said. "There is only one format and that's Test cricket. T20 cricketers come and go and the names come and go, Test cricket is the ultimate. Hopefully we can still see five-day Test matches. I know there has been a lot of talk about having four-day Test matches but I am a purist when it comes to cricket and I would like to see Test matches survive for five days."

McGrath, a self-admitted purist like Kohli, is also not keen on the change the ICC is reported to be mulling. "I'm very much a traditionalist I like the game the way it is," he said. "To me five days is very special and I'd hate to see it get any shorter. The introduction of pink Tests, day-night Tests is a great way to continue keeping our game fresh and moving forward. In respects to changing how many days its played, I'm actually against it. I like the way it is."

Joe Root and Tim Paine, in contrast, have sounded open to trying four-day Tests out, stressing on the need to be "flexible" and finding ways to "improve" Test cricket.

"I think it should be taken into consideration," Paine has said. "I dare say going back six or seven years if you let the players decide on pink ball that probably wouldn't have happened. There is always going to be some give and take. I think there is some merit on it being in the odd Test like we did with England and Ireland. But I think the big marquee Test series, the Test championship stuff has to stay five days."

© Cricbuzz

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