[Hrithik]

With the power that is the ICC, it is hard to believe that a governing body of such a sublime sport is unable to resurrect test cricket back to its former glory. The players say it is the curators preparing one sided pitches, the curators are saying it is the players unable to utilize pitches, I say it is in the hands of the powers that be, the ICC. It seems like a ploy or even a conspiracy to kill test cricket. Why you may ask? Money hungry boards and governing bodies are blinded by the success of 2020, why waste money on hosting and marketing test cricket with minimum returns when a 2020 tournament can bring the kind of cash never seen before in cricket. The people in charge are businessmen and not true cricket lovers, much like the underhand politics of world governments, the same game is being played by the ICC. They don’t care about the people, they care only for themselves.

If test cricket was the main concern for these people, with all the technological marvels the world has been able to achieve in the last century, surely they can bring in lively pitches even to the now tarnished stadium in Sinhalese. With the kind of money being generated these days, can it really be that difficult to bring in drop in pitches from Australia, England or South Africa? If drug lords can grow weed in warehouses using special lights and temperature control to get the room atmosphere to match that of countries where it is naturally grown, can a similar approach be looked into? The ICC must proactively search for a solution. In formula 1, the rules were recently changed, all the teams were spending millions of pounds on reconfiguring the cars in order to match race rules, does the ICC need to have a similar approach by passing laws on boards to prepare better pitches and to promote test cricket? Yes some national boards are not in a state to fund for such a venture, but the ICC and two or three national boards have enough funds available to assist the less fortunate boards.

They have left us test lovers in the dark and forgotten about us, they are now looking for a new target audience, the type who enjoys this 2020 nonsense, who cares about us? The type who enjoys a mental challenge lasting 5 days, where the best of the best use their minds to out think the opponent, in 2020 you will never see a Mohammad Asif set up a batsman for 2 or 3 over’s by persisting with immaculate line and length before sending in the killer ball. You will never see a Mike Hussey rescue in Sydney or experience the little master in his astonishing state of mind: Sachin Tendulker engaged in a test innings, the concentration, the patience, the technique, a clear mind, lighting fast reactions being employed over and over again. What a sight! I don’t even need to mention Ashes 2005, perhaps the greatest test series ever. Let’s see a 2020 tournament match that. Is it even possible?

The ICC has a plan, and they are planning on murdering test cricket. We will not see them stand up and say “ right, here is what we are going to do to bring test cricket back, we have a plan over the next 3 – 5 years to revive test cricket” All we hear about is future 2020 prospects and tournaments. I refuse to believe that nothing can be done to revive test cricket. They want it gone and they are doing everything they can to kill it, which in this case is nothing.