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Cricket Players'It will hurt our cricket in the long run': Inzamam understands why Wahab Riaz and Amir stepped away from Tests so early
Inzamam-ul-Haq said he now understands why pace bowler Wahab Riaz and the now-retired speedster Mohammad Amir decided to step away from Test cricket to focus solely on white-ball cricket.
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq on Monday voiced a strong message against cricket boards, including Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), for focussing mainly on T20 and sidelining the importance of Test cricket.
In a video put out on his Youtube channel, Inzamam urged the boards to not sacrifice Tests for T20s and said they can elevate the status of T20 cricket simultaneously without bringing down the stature of Test cricket.
His comments came after PCB decided to replace one Test with two T20Is, in consultation with Cricket West Indies.
Inzamam, who repeatedly empathized on the beauty and importance of Test cricket, said he now understands why pace bowler Wahab Riaz and the now-retired speedster Mohammad Amir decided to step away from Test cricket to focus solely on white-ball cricket.
While Riaz continues to represent Pakistan, Amir announced his decision to retire from international cricket last year after a fallout with the current Pakistan team management.
“I don’t mind if they want to play more T20Is for practice or money but Test cricket should not be sacrificed for this,” Inzamam said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“If you remember that when Amir decided to retire from Test cricket, he faced a lot of criticism for preferring T20Is and league cricket over Test matches. The same happened with Wahab Riaz as well. But now the board is giving the same message by replacing Test matches with T20Is. How can you stop the players from quitting Test cricket, in the future, if you are pursuing the same line of thought?" - he added.
The Pakistani batting legend--who scored 8830 runs in 120 Tests-- made a sincere plea to the ICC and other boards to stop chasing money. While he understands that T20 cricket brings more money, he also added that neglecting Test cricket will only hurt the game on the long run.
“I request the ICC and other boards to stop running after money because when the players will adopt the same approach, you will get hurt,” said the former Pakistan captain.
“If you wanted more practice for T20 World Cup, we should have asked them for T20Is without reducing Test matches. If you ignore Test matches, it will hurt our cricket in the long run," stated Inzamam.
With the T20 World Cup only a few months away, it is clear that teams will continue to focus on building a WC-winning side. According to Inzamam, however, the boards need not cut short the length of Test series.
