The format of the World Test Championship (WTC) has caused a lot of debate among the cricketing world and its experts. This has led to people wanting the ICC to change the format so that there will be more opportunities for the top teams to compete against each other more often in the two-year cycle.
Notably, the WTC Final will be played between South Africa and Australia at the iconic Lords ground, which will take place in June and according to the reports from India Today, it seems like ICC chairman Jay Shah is leading the charge of making Test cricket a two-tier format for all the teams and wants Cricket boards of England, Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand to host more marquee Test series in a season going forward.
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This format will make sure that the top teams in Test Cricket will be playing each other more often while the teams who have not been able to give consistent performances will be moved to the second tier. There have been some who do not agree with this format whereas some consider this a great move. The ex-BCCI President, Anurag Thakur, recently shared his views on this format and completely disagreed with it.
🚨 INDIA, AUSTRALIA AND ENGLAND TO PLAY EACH OTHER OFTEN. 🚨
– Jay Shah, Cricket Australia and ECB are in talks to split Test cricket into two divisions so the big 3 nations can play each other more often. (The Age). pic.twitter.com/6GrBOVJ1Vw
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 6, 2025
“The BCCI is against the two-tier Test system because the smaller countries will lose out and the BCCI wants to take care of them, It is necessary to protect their interests. In the two-tier system, they will lose out on a lot, including revenue and the opportunity to play against top teams. We don’t want that to happen. We want to work in the best interests of world cricket and that is why our team plays against all the countries,” Thakur said as quoted by India Today.
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Though the Ex-president had a huge problem Former India cricketer and commentator Ravi Shastri agreed with this format saying that this was the way to go and there have to be contests between teams for Test cricket to survive in this day and age.
“I’ve been a firm believer in that if you want Test cricket to survive and be alive and thriving, I think that’s the way to go, The top teams play against each other more often, so there is a contest; you want contests,” Shastri said while speaking on SEN.
