New Delhi, Aug 23: In July, former India head coach Ravi Shastri had proposed that only the top-six teams should get to play Test cricket and that the sport can be spread to different countries via white-ball cricket.
In response to Shastri’s suggestions, England Test captain Ben Stokes feels that Test cricket won’t ever go away, calling it the ‘pinnacle format of the sport and added that T20 cricket is ‘a business for some people’.
“To a certain extent, yes (on Shastri’s views). But then also, no. I think you look at the way franchise cricket is going now. There’s a lot of franchises now who have multiple teams across the world and in different countries; obviously India, Caribbean (Premier) League, South Africa now. You see people having multiple franchise teams and can almost say that T20 is almost becoming like a business for certain people.
“It’s obviously great for the game that things like that are happening. There’s (a) lot more opportunity for players than there were 15 years ago in terms of life outside of cricket, security and everything like that. Obviously, the money that is involved in sport now in cricket, especially the T20 is a lot more than it was 15-20 years ago.
“A career in professional sport is for a very short period. Not only do you want to be playing your best cricket for as long as you can, you also have to think about the future because once you stop playing cricket, that could be it,” said Stokes in a select virtual media interaction ahead of the release of his documentary Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes.
Despite the cricketing world trending in favour of more T20 matches, Stokes is optimistic that Test cricket will continue to survive. “I don’t see Test cricket going away whatsoever. I am a huge ambassador for the format. It’s a pinnacle of cricket, the Test matches and purest form of it. I can never see Test match cricket going anywhere.
“Even though T20 cricket has changed the face of the sport, Test match cricket still, in my opinion, is cricket’s pinnacle. I know that some of the biggest players in the sport feel exactly the same. I almost feel like at the moment, we sort of have the responsibility to make sure that we keep getting out the message about Test cricket is not dead, because in our opinion, it certainly isn’t.” (IANS)
