New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy bowls on day 3 of the second Test against West Indies in Wellington on December 12, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

New Zealand’s Mitchell Hay plays a shot on day 2 of the second Test against West Indies in Wellington on December 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Pakistan’s Shan Masood and South Africa’s Aiden Markram pose for photograph with the Test trophy in Rawalpindi, on October 23, 2025
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan’s Shan Masood plays a shot during the first day of the second test cricket match against South Africa, at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, in Rawalpindi, on October 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

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.

Listen to the conversation

Australian team pose for a photo in the dressing room after reclaiming the Bordewr-Gavaskar trophy by defeating India 3-1 in Sydney.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Late on Sunday night, Mitchell Starc and some of his teammates got into a sports utility vehicle and left the Sydney Cricket Ground. The celebrations in the Australian dressing room stretched long and spilled onto the turf. Some ambled near the ropes and a few went close to the pitch.

Reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a decade, the host has to thank the players who made this possible, and above all respect is owed to Pat Cummins. He bagged the wickets (25), scored vital runs (159), led well and Australia won by a 3-1 margin.

The Indians, meanwhile, had left the venue in the evening. They have enough to chew upon, grapple with and crease their foreheads. Commencing their tour with a 295-run victory in the first Test at Perth, the force was with them. The warm-up game against the Prime Minister’s XI at Canberra was pocketed too, before the campaign unravelled.

The Adelaide pink-ball Test was lost, and rain and the lower order secured a draw in Brisbane. And when R. Ashwin retired, the squad was in churn. The script turned morbid through a terrible last session and the Melbourne game was squandered. Finally at Sydney, even after snatching a four-run first innings lead, an inept second innings, despite Rishabh Pant’s fireworks, meant that Australia had an attainable target. An injured Jasprit Bumrah’s absence was a ghastly blow to India’s chances.

If one man had a large bearing on how India shaped up through this series, it was Bumrah, who also led in the first and fifth Test. His 32 wickets, till a back-spasm laid him low, meant that the Australian batters never felt they were fully settled at the crease. Every media interaction would involve a ‘Bumrah-question’ and the answers would range from shock to awe.

Among his support cast, Mohammed Siraj ran in all day. His effect may have varied but he has 20 wickets to show. The reality is if India capitulated eventually, a large share of the blame has to be apportioned to the batters. Skipper Rohit Sharma failed miserably, while Virat Kohli, after a ton at Perth, developed a fatal attraction around the off-stump. The former even skipped the last Test.

Meanwhile, with their bats, Yashasvi Jaiswal (391 runs), K.L. Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pant, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, had their moments. However, these were sporadic. A youngster like Shubman Gill going through a drought is also a cause for worry.

Coach Gautam Gambhir spoke about converting the 20s and 30s into big hundreds. However, this line-up seemingly lacks players, who can bat inexorably long. It was an attribute that Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Cheteshwar Pujara had. In all this talk about momentum, the fine-print about a draw being a honourable result was forgotten. If Melbourne was drawn, India would have reached Sydney at 1-1, and anything could have transpired.

Chairman Ajit Agarkar and his fellow selectors have to figure out the nucleus of the Test squad, starting with the England tour from June, later this year. After 2013, when India moved on from the Tendulkar era following his retirement, the present is another tipping point. There is no masking this grim truth, even if the glories secured in limited overs cricket, can be blinding at times.

Jasprit Bumrah reacts towards Australia’s Sam Konstas after dismissing Usman Khawaja during the fifth Test in Sydney.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Sam Konstas has the shots and the words. The last attribute at times does land him in a soup. During Australia’s first innings in the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the opener exchanged words with Jasprit Bumrah, who was complaining about Usman Khawaja ‘wasting time’ before close of play.

The Indian spearhead dismissed Khawaja in the same over and he and most of his teammates ran towards Konstas to make their displeasure known. Australian coach Andrew McDonald found that intimidating while his rival counterpart Gautam Gambhir had his own take on the issue.

Speaking to the media on Sunday (January 5, 2025), Gambhir said: “It’s a tough sport played by tough men. It can’t be that soft. He (Konstas) had no right to be talking to Jasprit Bumrah when Usman Khawaja was taking time. He had no business to be involved with Bumrah. That was the job of the umpire and the guy, who was batting.”

Later when Pat Cummins was asked to react, he said: “Obviously the ICC and Andy Pycroft (match referee) set the rules and the punishments. We saw that in Melbourne with Virat (Kohli), 20 per cent (of match fee), that’s what they thought, so it doesn’t really matter what we think, they set the rules, so obviously that’s the standard they are happy with.”

Australia’s Pat Cummins being presented with the Border-Gavaskar trophy by Allan Border after winning the fifth Test in Sydney on January 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Inside the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), children ran in that fumbling, happy way. The more adventurous ones did the odd somersault. Some of the Australian cricketers were lying sprawled on the grass, allowing all that ecstasy and relief to seep into them while their families hung around.

Beau Webster, with a lovely debut under his belt, stood close to the pitch and posed with his family for pictures. Pat Cummins and his men were in a happy space. And there was double joy to be savoured. Besides defeating India 3-1 to pocket the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia also sealed a berth in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s in June, later this year.

With South Africa having already qualified, the tussle for the second berth was between India and Australia. If the visitors had won at Sydney, then the subsequent series involving Australia and host Sri Lanka, would have had a bearing on the second finalist.

But with a favourable verdict in the fifth Test at the SCG, Cummins and his men will get to defend the title they won in the 2021-23 cycle. Australia has 63.73 percentage points now and is well ahead of India’s 50. Meanwhile, India, after having qualified twice for the WTC final and suffering losses to New Zealand and Australia respectively in those summit clashes, will miss the bus.

Reflecting on the spot in the WTC final, Cummins said: “It’s huge for us, we talk about the World Test Championship a lot. It’s a trophy we are really proud to hold so we want to go back and defend it. To play well consistently across different conditions and against different teams, yeah it’s great, can’t wait to get over there.”

Indian team is seen on day 3 of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney on January 5, 2025. India are out of the World Test Championship final and also lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia. Australia entered their second WTC final.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Australia defeated India by six wickets on Sunday (January 5, 2025). With this win the Australian team has regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a gap of 10 years.

With this 1-3, India are out of the World Test Championship final. India was the only team to have played the last two WTC finals. India had lost both the finals against New Zealand and Australia respectively.

India started the latest series on a strong note with an emphatic victory at Perth, but Australia bounced back strongly to level the series at Adelaide. Australia took a 2-1 lead in the fourth Test at Melbourne and defeated India in the final Test.

This win has also enabled Australia to enter their second successive World Test Championship final to be played at Lords in June. They will be up against South Africa.

Australia’s Scott Boland celebrates the dismissal of Virat Kohli on day 2 of the fifth Test in Sydney on January 4, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Australian coach Andrew McDonald reiterated his team’s desire to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Speaking to the media at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on Saturday (January 4, 2025), he said: “We are here to win a series. Would we get great satisfaction out of winning a series against India? There’s no doubt about that.”

Asked about the surface on offer for the fifth Test, the coach said: “The ground staff have done an incredible job of creating a wicket with something in it. Traditionally it’s quite benign and we had a lot of draws but this game has sped up.”

Reacting to Rishabh Pant’s rapid knock, McDonald said: “He has got an incredible ability to put pressure back on to bowlers. His was an innings that you would say was right for this time.”

The coach was thrilled with the way Scott Boland has performed: “Every time he pitches up in the Australian colours, he delivers. He is relentless on a length, moves the ball both ways and it is difficult (for the batters), particularly on this surface.”

Responding to Jasprit Bumrah’s niggle, McDonald said: “He is a threat any time. And, yeah, if he isn’t there, then India would have to come up with a new plan.”

The coach also found joy in the manner in which Virat Kohli was dealt with: “He has tried some things but you know, the relentless nature of Scotty has been incredibly difficult for him to combat. But he is never an easy wicket.”