Taking the fifth day away from spinners would be similar to not allowing the pacers to exploit ideal conditions on Day 1, believes Sachin Tendulkar, who explained reasons for his stance against the proposal to mandate four-day Test cricket by the ICC from the next FTP cycle in 2023-31. 

The proposal is borne directly out of the minds of less financially able full-member boards, outside India, England, and Australia, who don't find hosting Test cricket a cost-efficient exercise. 

Read Also: Virat Kohli strongly opposes the idea of four-day Test

"Spinners look forward to bowling with the scuffed ball, taking advantage on day five of the roughs created on the wicket. All that is a part of Test cricket. Is it fair to take that advantage away from the spinners?" the legend told Mumbai Mirror having played 200 Tests in his glorious 24-year-long career. 

He further said, "There is T20, it is one-dayers and then there are T10 and 100-ball cricket. The test is the purest form of cricket. It should not be tinkered with."

Tendulkar believes the game can't afford to sacrifice all its traditions for the sake of fitting in well with the new generation of followers. "When did you last see a bowler using reverse swing in a one-day game? The skill is out of limited-overs formats because now we use two new balls. For the ball to reverse swing, it needs to get soft," he said. 

The Master Blaster asked the ICC to instead focus all energies into ensuring there is a good quality of pitches across the globe. "The ICC, in my view, should focus on providing quality playing surfaces," he said. "Let the ball do things – spin, seam, swing, and bounce. It will automatically liven-up the game. It will also throw up more results. Currently, there are far too many dead games."

(Inputs from Mumbai Mirror)