Is the World Championship really going to save Test cricket?

Pakistan haven’t played in front of their home crowd since 2009

With Twenty20 leagues mushrooming all over the globe and the Test match crowd already dwindling, it remains to be seen if the corporates would be willing to shell out the bucks and if the fans will make it to the stadiums when India hosts the event in 2021, especially in games not involving the home side.

Moreover, an even more fundamental question that arises is whether there is a need for a Test championship. For over a hundred years the bilateral series concept has kept the flame flickering for the Tests. A Test series between two sides, sometimes stretched over a period of more than a month which may or may not produce an outright winner, can be a turn-off for first timers, but for a true connoisseur it is this contest between two adversaries that provides the thrills of a roller-coaster ride.

The pre-series hype, the off-field skirmishes between the followers of the two sides, the swing of fortunes as each Test goes by – like a great novel a Test series goes through its share of twists and turns and unfolds slowly, plot by plot, over a whole summer.

The game has evolved a lot since its inception, but the Tests have managed to retain their old charm by allowing the tradition to continue. The players still play the game in white flannel; the elements – the rain, the cloud cover, the wear and tear on the pitch – still affect the course of a game.

This adherence to the age old idiosyncrasies has allowed Test cricket to retain its serenity even in the commercial age. Cricket is the only sport that has three different formats at the international level, and it would be best served if the modern day experiments and commotions – the championships, changes in playing conditions, use of technology – are left to limited overs formats.

The notion that a World Championship will secure the future of Test cricket is misplaced. To ensure that the grandest form of the game survives, the ICC will have to be strong willed and see to it that bilateral Test series are not done away with to accommodate the slam-bang versions in the name of profit making ventures.

Like the Ashes or the Border-Gavaskar trophy, the series among the ‘lesser’ nations like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand should also be well marketed and given prime coverage. The ICC should get all the cricket boards together and prepare a Future Tour Program where each member gets a fair share.

Associate nations like Ireland and Afghanistan have shown promise in the recent past, and the ICC should cash in on this opportunity and look to promote the long form of the game in their domestic structure.

The World Test Championship may even turn out to be a success, but to hope that it will be a saviour for the Test format is wishful thinking. The ICC must realise that for Test cricket to survive and prosper, the concept of good old bilateral series must be strengthened.