Irfan Pathan disagrees with Virat Kohli; feels four-day Tests are 'way to go forward'

The International Cricket Council (ICC) stirred a hornet’s nest when they proposed mandating four-day Test matches from the 2023 international cricket cycle. The world’s cricketing governing body’s radical idea to tinker with the 143-year-old format of the game has not gone down well with both the former and current cricketers from the world around.

Many stars like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and others have come out strongly against ICC’s suggestion of reducing the Test days from five to four. They want to bring in more audience and increase the commercial value of the sports with a focus on limited-overs cricket. Gautam Gambhir, the former India opener, even called the idea “a ridiculous one”, while Tendulkar said that four-day Tests will take out the spinners out of the game. However, one freshly retired cricketer, Irfan Pathan, has supported the idea.

Irfan Pathan disagrees with Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli over four-day Tests

“I have been saying that for a few years now that four-day Tests should be there. I believe at least for a couple of years that’s it is the way to go forward. We play four-day cricket in Ranji Trophy, we get results. So why not Test matches? Obviously, nowadays results come regularly but if there are four-day Tests, every game will be result oriented…I totally, totally agree with four-day Test matches,” Pathan was quoted as saying by Times Now.

ICC has already tried four-day Tests with South Africa playing Zimbabwe and England taking on Ireland. Both the matches finished much earlier thanks to the discrepancy between the teams participating in the matches. Meanwhile, the ICC wants to limit the Test matches to four days, with the idea being implemented from the 2023-2031 international cricket cycle.

Sachin Tendulkar, meanwhile, slammed the idea of four-day Tests mentioning that spinners will not be able to play a role if the fifth day is eliminated from the Test format. “Spinners look forward to bowling with the scuffed ball, taking advantage of day five of the roughs created on the wicket. All that is a part of Test cricket. Is it fair to take that advantage away from the spinners? There is T20, there are one-dayers and then there are T10 and 100-ball cricket. The test is the purest form of cricket. It should not be tinkered with,” Tendulkar said.