Former Indian cricketer and cricket expert, Aakash Chopra, expressed his worries about the future of Test cricket, saying that the traditional format of the game is on a "ventilator."
Chopra raised his concerns after South Africa named a second-string squad for their upcoming tour of New Zealand.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) cited player commitments with franchises for the upcoming SA20 2024 as the reason behind picking a second-string squad for the Test series against New Zealand.
However, CSA stressed that they are fully committed to securing the future of Test cricket, and Chopra opined that the longest format of the game is in "ICU”.
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Aakash Chopra said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel: “Believe it or not, Test cricket is in ICU at the moment and has been put on the ventilator. Firstly, a handful of teams play Test cricket and among them also, only three teams are left that can afford to play Test cricket. South Africa recently announced their team for the series against New Zealand.”
The commentator continued, “They have made a proper second-string team. The reason is that SA20 is about to start. It is their domestic T20 tournament. Two Test matches of the WTC cycle have come this time. They said let's leave the Test match and that they will play in the SA20, from (Aiden) Markram to (Kagiso) Rabada to everyone, that all of them should be available there (SA20) and the rest of the kids can play Test cricket. That is incident No. 1.”
He also slammed Pakistan's decision to rest star pacer Shaheen Afridi for the third Test against Australia at the SCG. This was done to give the fast bowler a breather ahead of five T20Is against New Zealand in which Shaheen will captain the Pakistan team.
Chopra signed off by saying, “The second incident is what Pakistan has done. They have rested Shaheen Shah Afridi in the New Year's Test against Australia. When was the last time an Asian team went to Australia and said they would rest their main player, even if it's a dead rubber because you want him to be ready for T20 cricket?”
