Cricket great Sachin Tendulkar has become the latest high-profile figure to reject calls for four-day Tests, claiming it would unfairly disadvantage spinners and change the game. Tendulkar this week joined the chorus of calls against the move, which is set to be discussed by the ICC cricket committee this year for 2023 and beyond.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has also voiced his disapproval, echoing the sentiments of current players including Tim Paine, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, India skipper Virat Kohli, and New Zealand quick Neil Wagner.

Cricket officials from Australia and England are interested in investigating the idea - believing it can free up the calendar and create more positive play in red-ball matches. But Tendulkar told the Mumbai Mirror the loss of a day could adversely affect spinners.

“Spinners look forward to bowling with the scruffed ball, taking advantage on day five of the roughs created on the wickets,” Tendulkar said. “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.”

Tendulkar also pleaded with his former teammate Anil Kumble to consider his own history as a spinner in his role as chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee. His comments came as Ponting also flatly rejected a reduction to four days, having been part of the MCC World Cricket Committee that voted against the proposal three years ago.

“I’m against it but I’d like to hear from the people who are pushing it what the major reason is,” Ponting told cricket.com.au. “I know we’ve had a lot of four-day games the last couple of years but what I’ve noticed in the last decade is how many drawn Test matches there have been. I just wonder if they had have been all four-day Test matches through that period of time would we have had more drawn games?”

Mark Taylor and Shane Warne are among former players who have supported the change. The ICC approved a trial of the concept in 2017, with South Africa, Zimbabwe, England and Ireland all taking part in four-day games since then. There is a possibility next summer’s Test between Australia and Afghanistan could be scheduled as a four-day match.