File photo of Ravi Shastri
Former India coach Ravi Shastri has called for the implementation of a two-tier system in Test cricket, saying the structure will allow for the survival of the longer format. Shastri’s comments come after the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia drew 373,691 spectators across all five days, to become the most-attended Test match in Australia. It beat the previous record of 350,534 at the same venue during the 1936/37 Ashes series against England.
“To break crowd records that have stood for nearly a century… is testimony to the fact that when the best teams play, the toughest and best format of the game is still alive and thriving.
“It was also a sound reminder to the ICC (International Cricket Council) that the best should play the best for Test cricket to survive. I will say that there’s too much of a clutter otherwise.
“This match further emphasises why we need a two-tier system with the top 6-8 teams and then include promotion and demotion. You will not get these kinds of crowds if you don’t have two proper teams playing,” wrote Shastri in his column for The Australian on Wednesday.
In 2016, a proposal for a two-tier Test system was put on the table by the International Cricket Council (ICC). But it was withdrawn at the meeting of its chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) in Dubai in September 2016.
Shastri, a member of India’s 1983 ODI World Cup-winning team, said the thrilling Test match at Melbourne also proved that Tests should be played for five days, amid constant chants over them being reduced to four days.
“The theatre in the end on (day five) Monday was further proof of why we need five days for a classic Test match. However, if you don’t create a two-tier system, you’ll continue to have unmatched teams up against each other and then it’s very unlikely they’ll be able to take a game into the fifth day. Then there’ll always be talk of four-day Tests.”
Australia won the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by 184 runs and leading the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series 2-1 ahead of the fifth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, starting on January 3.
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