IPL 2018: Brendon McCullum thinks Test Cricket will not survive the T20 revolution

McCullum has a warning for the game's administrators, to do something drastic immediately.

pic credit IANS

Brendon McCullum, the Royal Challengers Bangalore right-hand batsman has come out and expressed a view that he feels that Test Cricket might not be able to stand its own and survive the ever-growing T20 revolution that our sport is having. 

McCullum who himself captained New Zealand's Test team and played a pivotal role for them with the bat in the game's toughest format was quoted as saying on the ESPNcricnfo's Cricket Monthly  “I firmly believe that Test cricket won’t be around in time, because there’s only so many teams that can afford to play it,” 

“I’m also a realist that people are turning up and watching T20 not just at games but also on TV — society’s changing, isn’t it? People don’t have four or five days to commit to Test cricket. They might watch the first session, and the last session on day five if it’s tight, but they’re not going to then you strip it back a level as well and you think domestically, how can teams around the world afford to even exist?”

Rahul Dravid one of the game's greatest has echoed previously that to grow like leaf T20 needs the roots of Test Cricket to be stronger. To provide good enough players for T20, players must learn how to adapt by playing Test Cricket. McCullum though feels differently. He has said, “I don’t buy that you need residual [Test match] skills to be able to then transfer into T20. To me, they’re played with the same instruments but they’re completely separate games. I think once we do separate it, even more, then the skill level of T20 cricket will go to a whole new level altogether,”

Brendon McCullum retired from the game two years back, he is foreseeing his future now. He talked about this as well and said, “I’m invigorated by it, to be honest, the way I’m hitting the ball. So I’ll do that, and then I’d like to transition into some coaching stuff because I think the IP - especially in T20 - the IP of three hundred and something games is quite valuable, and also I like the idea that I can help people,” 


 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 14 May, 2018

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