Legendary England all-rounder Ian Botham has expressed his concerns over Test cricket losing its relevance in India with the rising popularity of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Botham’s comments came ahead of the much-awaited Border Gavaskar Trophy, slated to get underway in Nagpur on February 9.

“You go to India now and they won’t watch Test cricket. It’s all IPL. They earn big money and it sounds great now, but how long do they think this is going to last? Test cricket has been around for 100 years plus, it’s not going to go anywhere,” Botham told the Mirror Sport.

“And if we do lose Test cricket, then we’ll lose cricket as we know it. It will become meaningless. To play a Test match is what every player should want to do,” he added.

Under the leadership of skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, England have played a fearless brand of cricket in the longest format of the game over the last eight months.

With the ultra-aggressive approach, known as Bazball, the Three Lions defeated New Zealand and South Africa at home and also won the one-off Test against India at Edgbaston. Moreover, they recently whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 in an away Test series.

When asked whether this attacking approach is sustainable, Botham replied: “Yes, it’s sustainable, they’ve just played 10 games, won nine and lost one. Look, if you play like that you’re going to lose occasionally, it’s inevitable, but what a great advert for Test cricket. To win 3-0 in Pakistan is a great effort. Pakistan just don’t lose 3-0 at home. And to achieve that was fantastic.”

“I think they’ll continue to play in that way; I think it’s something that goes through the dressing room, and they all want to be positive and they want to win. It’s not just about their batting that way, but bowling as well. They’ve decided they are going to go down this route and I think it’s the right way."