If it’s 4 days, it is not a Test match: Rohit Sharma joins Virat Kohli against ICC proposal
Indian opener Rohit Sharma has thrown his weight behind 5-day Tests to continue in their present format after ICC’s recent proposal to trim the oldest format by a day have polarised the cricket community all over the world. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Sharma voiced unequivocally his support for the 5-day format adding that “four-day means a first-class match”.
“If it is a four-day, it is not a Test match. Four-day means a first-class match. It is as simple as that,” came the direct reply from Sharma when asked about the ICC’s proposal.
Indian captain Virat Kohli, South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis and England’s Joe Root also agree that they are not a fan of tinkering with the 5-day format.
“Four-day Tests? Look, I’m not a fan of [it]. I think the intent will not be right then because then you will speak of three-day Tests, where do you end? Then you speak of Test cricket disappearing. I don’t endorse that at all. I don’t think that’s fair to the purest format of the game – how cricket started initially and five-day Test matches were the highest of tests you can have at the international level. According to me, it shouldn’t be altered,” said Kohli ahead of the 1st T20I vs Sri Lanka in Guwahati recently.
“I am a fan of Test cricket going five days,” du Plessis said on Tuesday, adding “the great draws of the game always go to five days.”
“I’m not speaking about the other stuff that comes to four-day cricket. I understand there is a lot of money being burned on five-day cricket because a lot of games are not going to the fifth day. There will always be an opinion on both sides, but I am still a purist of the game and have been part of some great draws that went five days.”
“I like five-day Test cricket. I’ll leave at that, otherwise, I’ll get in trouble,” Root also told reporters in the wake of the thrilling Newlands win.
While Cricket Australia and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have said they would not refrain from considering the possibility of 4-day Tests, BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly said it’s too early to talk about the proposal.
