Former England skipper Michael Vaughan reckons too many formats of the game are making things difficult for all of them to survive. Hence, he has suggested the administrators to have the 50-over format only reserved for World Cups.
With the emergence of franchise leagues across the globe, T20 has emerged as the most followed format of the game in recent times. No wonder, Vaughan is concerned whether Test cricket will survive for the next 50 years or not.
In order to keep fans’ interest alive, the ICC introduced the World Test Championship in 2019 and it has managed to revive the longest format so far.
Speaking to veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on his Youtube show - DRS with ASH, Vaughan made a bold claim that too many formats are making things difficult for all of them to survive.
“I’ll be honest; I think there are too many formats in the game for them all to survive. Test match cricket has to survive; it’s the heritage of our sport. I hope in 50 years’ time, we’re all still talking about Test match cricket like we do now," Vaughan said while speaking to veteran India spinner R Ashwin on his Youtube show “DRS with ASH”.
“I do think we have an issue with T20 cricket and 50-over cricket. I think it’s just how the administrators and you players come together and try and work out what is the best solution for a lot of the problems that the game has at the minute," he added.
“Let’s try to have windows in our calendar where you have one month where you play just Test cricket, then another month for T20 cricket, then for the IPL. In among all that, it’s very difficult to continue with 50-over cricket as well. It might be that the only 50-over cricket that will be played will be every four years at the World Cup," he continued.
According to Vaughan, ODI cricket has now become an extension of the T20 format as it has revolutionized the playing style.
“I know there will be die-hards who will ask how will you be good at 50-over cricket if you don’t play it? But 50-over cricket now is just an extension of T20 cricket. Players try to bat like T20 cricket for 50 overs. That’s why you see 350-400 scores regularly."
The 47-year-old cited the example of a University course to explain why a modern player is focusing more on white-ball cricket than red.
“If I were a player coming through in this era, I’d be doing exactly what the modern player is doing, trying to be as good a white-ball player as I could be. If that helped me be a good Test player, then fantastic, I’d love to be both. But it’s like a University course. There are more opportunities and jobs studying white-ball cricket than studying red-ball cricket," Vaughan said.
“So I’ve studied four years of red-ball cricket for 11 places, or I can study white-ball cricket, and that leaves me with, phew, how many leagues are out there? There are so many leagues. The Hundred, Big Bash, the IPL, PSL, the CPL, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and T10 as well. So studying white-ball cricket university is what you should be doing, but what I hope is happening is that the university of white-ball says that come on, there’s also this course that can add some skills as well, and that’s red-ball cricket," he further remarked.
