New Delhi: For years, legendary cricketers and sports experts talked about the survival of cricket’s longest format. The latest one comes from former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi.
In an interview with ANI in London, 62-yr-old Modi, an absconder, warned that traditional, bilateral red-ball series are on a path to extinction unless radical commercial interventions are introduced to recapture global audiences.
“Test matches on bilateral will die,” he said, suggesting a survival strategy.
Modi argued that franchise-driven models are no longer just an alternative but the necessary lifeline needed to subsidise and sustain Test cricket’s heritage.
“The next prediction of mine is that now they should allow IPL-type Test matches. The next thing that they should be doing is for Test matches to come in,” Modi added.
In 2019, the ICC attempted to imbue energy into the sport through the World Test Championship (WTC). Former ICC chairman Shashank Manohar then said that the WTC was introduced to stop the format from dying.
“Test cricket is actually dying, to be honest. So, to improve the situation, we are trying ways and means,” Manohar had said.
‘Change the hook of the game’
But Modi, who changed cricket viewership by bringing in the IPL in 2008, has now presented a blueprint for the future of Test cricket.
According to him, even ODI cricket should die, and the Test format should survive.
Modi acknowledged that red-ball cricket can’t compete financially with short-form leagues. The solution, for him, lies in franchise corporate backing rather than government boards.
If Test cricket isn’t taken over by club cricket, it will die due to a lack of viewership on a global level.
“So (Test) will be a loss leader. I’m not saying everything has to make money… You don’t have to have profit in everything. You have got to do something for the game too,” he said.
Modi also proposed shortening the five-day Test to four days.
“The only way Test cricket will work, somebody’s going to shoot me for saying this. Let the IPL teams own Test cricket teams,” said Modi, adding that modern audiences simply lack the luxury or patience to watch five days of cricket under the sun.
“The hook of the game must change if it intends to survive,” said Modi.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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