With the expansion of lucrative T20 leagues around the world, cricketers are finding it hard to strike the balance between franchise cricket and national duty.

Recently, South Africa announced a depleted 14-member squad for the upcoming Test tour of New Zealand as their contracted players will be busy playing in the SA20 competition.

Amid the recent development, India skipper Rohit Sharma on Tuesday (January 2) stressed that Test cricket needs to be protected while also adding that it’s the responsibility of every Test playing nation to do so.

Rohit’s comment came on the eve of the second Test against South Africa, slated to get underway on January 3 in Cape Town.

“Test cricket is something that we have to protect and give importance to. It's not the responsibility of one or two nations, it is the responsibility of all Test playing countries to make sure that we keep it nice and entertaining,” said Rohit while speaking in a pre-match press conference.

“If you see around the world, a lot of solid Test cricket is being played. In the last 2-3 years, you've seen results everywhere. It's competitive cricket, we know that and it's everyone's duty to make sure that it stays nice and healthy, and it stays competitive. At the end of the day, that is what people would want to come and watch,” he added.

India were outplayed by South Africa in the opening Test at SuperSport, Centurion. They suffered an innings and 32-run defeat to concede an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

The Cape Town Test will be the last match of India’s tour to South Africa and the visitors will look to level the series and kick-off the new year on a positive note.

India’s squad for second Test vs South Africa:

Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Abhimanyu Easwaran, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan