BCCI supports Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, wants five-day Tests to continue

The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) proposal to make Test matches a four-day affair instead of five has left the cricketing fraternity divided. A number of significant voices in India, including captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri, have expressed their reservations against tampering with the game’s traditional format. Shastri even went to the extent of calling the idea “nonsense” and advised to keep the experiment limited outside the top six teams.

Now, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also stood behind the captain and coach by raising a red flag for the ICC’s proposal. In fact, member of the ICC’s Cricket Committee Mahela Jayawardene said recently that he is personally against the idea of curtailing the idea of four-day Tests.

“Tradition can’t be toyed with”: BCCI

A BCCI official on this issue was quoted by Timesnownews as saying: “See, it is only right that you discuss these matters and we will do the same with CA, ECB and Cricket South Africa. But as things stand now, we are on the same platform as our skipper and coach and don’t see much sense in cutting Test cricket to four days from the conventional five.

In fact, it is not just our captain or coach, you have also heard the likes of Joe Root (English captain) and Faf du Plessis (South Africa skipper) make their opinions clear on the matter. It might be an option for the lower-ranked teams, but not when two big teams clash. Tradition can’t be toyed with.”

The official added that the board will take up the issue with its Australia and England counterparts around the BCCI awards in Mumbai on Sunday but informed that the board has indeed made up its mind.

Kohli spoke on the matter on the eve of the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Guwahati last Sunday. He said he is against the idea of altering the format of Tests. He even mentioned about day-night Test, saying: “As I said, the day-night is another step towards commercialising Test cricket and you know, creating excitement around it, but it can’t be tinkered with too much. I don’t believe so.”

Kohli said if only the number and entertainment factors are taken into account, then the next goal could be three-day Tests till the format eventually gets extinct.

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