Former England captain Michael Brearley feels the new ICC World Test Championship will help the Test cricket to grow up while he remarked short-sighted on India’s refusal to play the day/night Test on the Australian tour.
Recently, in the “Tata Lit Live” festival, Brearley told PTI, “It (World Test Championship) will help. They (the concerned authorities) have to do everything they can to help (Test cricket). Day-night Test matches are one thing too. I was very sorry to hear that India refused to play a day-night Test in Adelaide. That was short-sighted.”
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ICC has recently decided to start the World Test Championship from the next year, just after completion of the ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
Talking about his beliefs on the Test Championships, Brearley said, “I think the Test Championships will help. What somebody raised in our discussion today, to have proper facilities for people coming to Test matches in India, will (also) help. Making people comfortable in Test matches, marketing Test matches, all these things have to be done as much as possible for Test cricket, finding windows for Test cricket, which will not be interfered by domestic T20 series.”
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The 76-year-old also praised the Indian captain Virat Kohli who is currently in a great form with the bat in every format and also he is the no.1 rank batsman in both the Test and ODI formats.
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Brearley said about Kohli, “He (Kohli) is a wonderful batsman, the best batsman in the world. He averages over 50 (and) has a very good rate of scoring in T20s, One Day Internationals and Test cricket. He forms a bridge between these different forms of batting and brings classic batsmanship to T20 cricket. I think he is sort of a genius as a batsman.”
While India is ready to take on Australia in Australia very soon, Brearley feels it is probably the best Indian side to travel to Australia.
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He said on that, “I think they (India) are probably as good as ever as they have been going to Australia. Their top bowlers are very, very good and we were all impressed by them in England.”
