Team India suffered yet another disappointing loss in the final of the World Test Championship last week, this time against Australia. The defeat, by a margin of 209 runs, extended India’s ICC title drought and marked their second failure in reaching the pinnacle of Test cricket. In 2019, under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, India fell short against New Zealand, and now, Rohit Sharma’s leadership has also failed to secure a major ICC trophy for the team.
In the aftermath of the defeat, Rohit Sharma expressed his reservations about the final format of the World Test Championship, suggesting that it should be a three-Test series. While his viewpoint found support among some fans and former cricketers, Australian pacer Pat Cummins had a different perspective.
“I think it’s fine. No qualms. I think ideally you’d have 50-match series but the Olympics have come down to one race to win a gold medal. AFL, NRL seasons have finals. That’s sport,” Pat Cummins responded to Rohit’s suggestion.
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Aakash Chopra, former Indian opener, highlighted another major aspect missing in the World Test Championship. As the International Cricket Council announced the fixtures for the tournament’s third cycle, commencing with the Ashes, Chopra echoed Rohit’s call for a three-Test final series. He also emphasized the significance of matches between India and Pakistan in an ICC event like the World Test Championship.
“You don’t play against all teams. But this is WTC, it’s an ICC event. It has been 4 years now… can you imagine an ICC event without India vs Pakistan? This can never happen. It’s always at the start of the tournament so it gets off to a great start commercially. It gets the highest rating and people make money,” Aakash Chopra expressed on his YouTube channel.
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Aakash Chopra further questioned whether the World Test Championship truly falls under the purview of the ICC, as the absence of an India-Pakistan series in the tournament’s six-year cycle raised concerns. He called for clarity on the nature of the event and suggested that if it is not an ICC event, it should be labeled as bilateral cricket.
Due to political tensions between the two nations, India and Pakistan do not engage in bilateral series. However, they have faced each other in ICC tournaments, with their last encounter occurring during the 2022 T20 World Cup, where India emerged victorious with a four-wicket win.
