Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar believes that World Test Championship (WTC) should be held every four years like the 50-over World Cups.
Team India and New Zealand are all set to square off with each other in the final ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final starting 18th June at Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
With both teams set to face off each in the one-off Test, many fans and pundits feel that there should’ve been at least more than one Test match needed to determine the winner of the WTC.
However, batting great Sachin Tendulkar suggested that WTC could be played like World Cup in a dedicated two-three months' window in one or two countries.
"Maybe to generate even more interest, it could become like a World Cup. A World Cup is not played all across the globe. The World Cup is played in just one or two countries.
"We need to decide which are the countries where you can host the Test championship. And within possibly those two months, you just play the Test championship,” Sachin Tendulkar told Reuters.
Tendulkar batted against a one-off WTC final, saying that it lacks continuity. He also suggested shortening the window for the championship to help in increasing its significance.
"If you are playing one match against each other, then to play the final just as a one-off game also makes sense. But if you allow everyone to play the entire series and then just play one game as a final, then continuity is not there.
"You need to shorten that window and compress the whole thing. All teams go and play wherever it is held and that is when the final will have more significance than what it is at this moment,” he said.
Tendulkar further said in this regard: "When a 50-over World Cup happens, it goes on for nearly two months and nowhere in the world, there is any other format being played during those two months.
"But along with the WTC final, (currently), multiple teams are playing in different parts of the world in different formats. To get more eyeballs and get more focus, more engagement, we need to have just one tournament,” he said.
Earlier Team India’s head coach Ravi Shastri remarked that it would be ideal to have a best-of-three final to decide the winner at the end of the two-year cycle of the WTC.
WTC final should be best-of-three affair in long run, opines Ravi Shastri
Talking about the same Tendulkar echoed Shastri’s comments and said that the WTC final should have been a best of three final to decide the winner.
"India played all four Tests in Australia, and four Test matches against England at home. So we have been playing full series to get here and suddenly you get to the final and you just have one match. So it should have been a WTC final series, best of three,” he said.
Sachin Tendulkar further said that both India and New Zealand have played good cricket to seal a spot in the final of the WTC and it would be imp for both the teams to bat and bowl well. He added that the first session of the Test match would be crucial.
"The top two teams who have got there have played some good cricket and that's why they're there. It's important to pick 20 wickets to win a test match, but it is equally important to give enough runs on the board to your bowlers. It's important to bat well.
"I think the first session is going to be really critical. Sometimes you just have to ease yourself into a match, anxiety levels are going to be high,” he concluded.
The WTC final winner will be awarded a Mace prize of $1.6 million while the runners-up would receive $800,000. The prize money will be shared between the two teams if the game ends in a draw.
(Reuters inputs)
