Will a two-tiered World Test Championship do more harm than good?

Is this proposal actually expected to benefit Test cricket?

Deep Dasgupta: I wrote for Sportstar in 2017 in favour of the proposal, so I am an advocate. The quality of the India-England Test series may not have been great, but because it was competitive, it had everyone’s attention. Test cricket will be watched by people as long as it is competitive. Obviously, we can’t expect people to watch it on all five days, for seven hours each day. But if it is competitive, people will follow it more often. With a two-tiered WTC, you will have a more competitive series and more people following Test matches again.

Jatin Paranjape: Today, more people consume the T20 (Twenty-20) format of cricket. But having said that, consumer behaviour has evolved rapidly: there is a niche group of people supporting Test cricket as well. They follow and appreciate the intricacies of Test cricket.

So, the time has come for the ICC (International Cricket Council) to launch Test cricket as a product. They need to be mindful of the fact that while all the media attention is around the T20 game, the ratings during the India-England Test series went through the roof. And that launch has to be a happy marriage of keeping the philosophical priority of Test cricket alive with the commercial angle.

I am not against the two-tier format, but it should not be skewed towards redistribution of commerce; it should be skewed towards redistribution of opportunity for all the teams, so that they have a reasonable stab at Test cricket. It should incentivise teams in the second tier to improve their game.

At the moment, the WTC involves only nine of the 12 Test-playing nations. Each team plays six series, primarily to avoid pitting India and Pakistan against each other. How can you re-jig the format or make the existing format more fan-friendly?

Deep Dasgupta: The major issue with a two-tier system with six teams in each tier is that a lot of the teams might say, ‘I am not going to play second tier’. It becomes a bit of an issue. So let’s say they are divided as seven (in top tier) and five (in the bottom) and we stick with the current format, which is six series in a cycle. If you have seven teams in Tier 1, automatically you play six other teams (in a cycle). Whether it’s India-Pakistan, I think that’s a different issue. That’s above my pay grade, so I’m not going to get into that bit. That can happen whenever it happens and whatever the powers are, they will decide.

Once Test cricket is sold as quality product — the India-England series was a great advocate for that — then you will also get revenue from it. And then you can create a Test fund. A major chunk of it would go into organising Test series for teams in the second tier. One of the major reasons why many Test-playing nations don’t play many Test matches is the commercial aspect. A series with five T20s is more commercially viable than one with three Test matches. If the ICC comes up with a Test fund, that could help.

Jatin Paranjape: Your calendar dictates what you can and cannot do. There is a finite number of days within which you need to drive this game forward. It’s funny that today, when you think about the calendar, you think about the IPL (Indian Premier League) first and then look at what is left after that. The ICC will have to identify what the two most important formats are, out of the three formats. ODI (One Day International) cricket needs to be looked at. The amount of inane ODI cricket being played today at a bilateral level is not good for the game or the broadcaster. I don’t think it represents any value for the consumer either. So if they look at how many days they have available as part of the calendar, then let them prioritise T20 cricket and Test cricket as the two main focus areas. The ICC has to have a tricky conversation with multiple stakeholders ahead of the 2027 cycle. The people at the top of the ICC are canny commercial operators. Jay Shah (ICC Chairman) will want to prioritise Test cricket and will have to find the right way to do it.

Perhaps with an eye on the next ICC broadcasting rights cycle (2027-2031), the ICC in July formed a working group headed by former New Zealand batter, Roger Twose, to look into all aspects of the next WTC. If Twose calls either of you, what would you suggest?

Deep Dasgupta: First, figure out a window for Test cricket. For that to happen, control the spread of franchise cricket. You see 29-year-old quality cricketers retiring from international cricket; these are all obviously interconnected issues. Look at windows where more and more Test cricket can be played. The two-tier system makes a lot of sense in such windows.

Jatin Paranjape: The ICC is the custodian of the game and custodians always have a long-term view on things. So nothing needs to be fixed in the next year or two. The path needs to be clear: over the next five-seven years, how are we going to have 12 really strong Test-playing nations? One way is to look at the tier two teams right now and create a league for them. Create a league whereby after a certain level, two or three teams out of those five or six are switched against tier one teams. That gives the spectators in these other countries something to look forward to.

Deep Dasgupta: That is a great idea. Five teams in tier two can play each other over a period of a month and a half or two months.

Can you suggest the ideal approach for the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board), and Cricket Australia — the three top boards that control the Test calendar and revenue — to make the two-tier Test system work?

Jatin Paranjape: There isn’t a more opportune time than this: the head of the ICC is the former head of the BCCI. A lot of changes can be made because there is the muscle to do it. When I say muscle, I mean it in a good way, in a way that where you want to promote the game, where you want to add commercial longevity to the game.

Let us not underestimate the power of the consumer. The consumer must feel enthused that Test cricket is well looked after; that there is the dopamine fix with the T20 format, but there is also a fantastic Test cricket calendar year on year, which is going to evolve into strengthening the tier two teams.

I also feel the ICC will miss an opportunity if they don’t form an advisory committee of some of the top players who have been big proponents of Test cricket or champions in Test cricket. No disrespect to Roger Twose, but players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Alastair Cook, and Ricky Ponting need to be part of the decision-making process.

Deep Dasgupta: I am glad that we are talking and everyone is talking about this. We have seen the time when nobody was really bothered about Test cricket. Once we accept the fact that there are challenges, and we need to do something, I am sure there will be solutions.

Jatin Paranjape: Let me talk about the consumer again. Let us not forget that the consumer is also often an aspiring cricketer. If teenagers don’t want to play red-ball cricket, they want to play white-ball cricket. You need to be able to touch them in some way, you need to be able to inspire them with the fact that Test cricket is being given priority that is similar to what is given to T20 cricket. If you fix cricket from an organisational perspective, but if your new players don’t want to play Test cricket, then you have a problem again. You need to launch Test cricket as a product. The objective could be that by 2036, we have we have 14 really strong Test nations.

Any parting thoughts?

Deep Dasgupta: For us, Test cricket is the most favoured format. Since everyone is talking about improving it, things will fall into place.

Jatin Paranjape: There needs to be a long-term view. The BCCI needs to shepherd this entire conversation. It does not need to be a dictator, but it needs to shepherd this entire conversation. Without a definitive point of view from the BCCI, we’ll be having the same chat two years down the road.

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