Former Pakistan batsman Ramiz Raja thinks there should be a two-month window only for Test matches, which must be done to increase the popularity of the format. He requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to look into the same.
“I feel that the ICC has a decent plan in the shape of the World Test Championship, there should be a window for that and everything else should stop for a period of two months so the best players are available to play Test cricket,” Ramiz said after a committee meeting at Lord’s on Tuesday.
The former Pakistan captain added, “It’s got to get better. In Asia, for example, because of poor Test match scheduling, the interest is dwindling. When you go back home you are never sure if you are going to have a one-Test series, a two-Test series or whether you are going to have a Test series at all.”
Raja, who is a member of the MCC world cricket committee, went on to add, “You have to acknowledge and respect the status of Test match cricket and it has to come from the cricket boards, in Asia specifically. For example, MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from the BCCI, Shahid Afridi retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from PCB.”
On the Test league, he explained, “It is under a lot of stress in Asia but if we have a properly planned Test match championship, that’s the way out of this, otherwise we will be struggling to put aside as much money as is available for the T20 leagues.”
--By A Cricket Correspondent
