Kohli backing gives Gower hope for Test cricket's future

India are set to face Australia in first five-day game from December 6

PHOTO: AFP

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">The inexorable rise of T20 cricket has sparked fears that the Test format is in serious jeopardy &mdash; but the longest form of the game has a powerful advocate in India captain Virat Kohli.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">The popularity of quick-fire T20 matches can be seen most starkly in the Indian Premier League, where players earn vast sums of money playing in front of packed houses.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Tests by contrast &mdash; outside England and Australia &mdash; are often played in front of sparse crowds in big, echoing arenas.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">But former England captain David Gower said comments made by Kohli, the world&#39;s top-rated batsman, during India&#39;s 4-1 Test series loss in England this year, are significant.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">&quot;We had a fantastic series against India, closer than the margin suggests,&quot; said Gower, one of the leading Test batsmen of his era, during the inaugural Ranji Memorial Public Conversation on Cricket in London. </span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">&quot;It is a reflection of the balance of power if Virat says that &mdash; you&#39;ve got a lot of people who will listen,&quot; explained Gower, who said the introduction of a World Test Championship from next year will help provide greater context for matches.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Kohli insisted Test cricket was the &quot;most beautiful format of the game&quot; despite the razzmatazz and hype around the shorter formats.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">And no one should doubt what it would mean to Kohli were he to lead India to their inaugural Test-series win in Australia during an upcoming four-match campaign.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">He is, though, against matches in the 141-year-old format being reduced to a maximum of four days from five to make them more attractive &mdash; England are playing a four-day match against Test newcomers Ireland in July.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">India are the undisputed financial powerhouse of world cricket, with an audience of more than a billion people providing huge commercial and broadcast revenues.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Tours by India boost opponents&#39; bank balances, allowing home boards to sell TV rights to the lucrative subcontinental market.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer said the Board of Control for Cricket in India had been &quot;blinded&quot; by Twenty20 to the detriment of an overall vision.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">&quot;India have been sort of blinded by the T20, the IPL,&quot; said Engineer, speaking alongside Gower. &quot;Your first priority is to play for your country and then the riches will come automatically.&quot;</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">That Engineer played 46 Tests in just over 13 years while recently retired England batsman Alastair Cook made 161 Test appearances in 12-and-a-half years is an indication of just how congested the international calendar has become.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Engineer&#39;s fellow panel member Mushtaq Mohammad said it was crucial to make Test cricket affordable and that spectators risked being priced out of the game.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">&quot;If you want Test cricket to survive you&#39;ve got to reduce the entrance fee. Open the gates, let the people come in, make it affordable.&quot;</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">As for the recent innovation of day-night Tests, the former Pakistan batsman added: &quot;In Southeast Asia we&#39;ve got the right weather for day-night cricket but don&#39;t reduce it (Test cricket).&quot;</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Test cricket has suffered a marked decline in the West Indies, who dominated Test cricket from the late 1970s until the early 1990s, playing with a crowd-pleasing swagger.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Gower said reviving five-day interest in the Caribbean was no easy task despite a significant cash injection from the International Cricket Council.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">&quot;If you are talking about the Caribbean, you are not talking about one nation but several nations,&quot; he said. &quot;You are talking about socio-economic problems and it&#39;s disjointed.&quot;</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">Of some consolation to traditionalists is that the debate is nothing new, with Test cricket still alive and kicking.</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">&quot;In this ultra-modern age, counter-attractions have multiplied many times....They (young people) just haven&#39;t the time to devote to cricket or is it they just can&#39;t be bothered to dash home to tea, then to the local cricket ground?&quot;</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Merriweather">It might sound like a contemporary lament, but those words were written by England great Herbert Sutcliffe after his country&#39;s 1950-51 Ashes Test series loss in Australia.</span></span></p>
