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Test cricket will not stand test of time with T20’s emergence: Brendon McCullum
Test cricket has been trying to reinvent itself over the past couple of years with day-night Tests being the latest addition in the block. But Brendon McCullum, former New Zealand captain, says that the emergence of T20 will push Tests to the background in future.
Brendon McCullum, former New Zealand captain, has stated that he doesn’t feel Test cricket will stand the test of time and will be a forgotten chapter owing to the rise of T20 cricket.
Test cricket, still considered as the purest format of the game by traditionalists, has been trying to reinvent itself over the past couple of years with day-night Tests being the latest addition in the block. It was aimed at pulling crowd to the stadiums, which often witness empty seats during Tests.
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“I firmly believe that Test cricket won’t be around in time, because there’s only so many teams that can afford to play it,” the wicket-keeper batsman told Cricket Monthly. “I’m also a realist that people are turning up and watching T20 not just at games but also on TV — society’s changing, isn’t it? People don’t have four or five days to commit to Test cricket. They might watch the first session, and the last session on day five if it’s tight, but they’re not going to then you strip it back a level as well and you think domestically, how can teams around the world afford to even exist?”
McCullum, who’s part of Royal Challengers Bangalore squad in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, had retired from international cricket back in 2016 and just plays franchise cricket now. “I don’t buy that you need residual [Test match] skills to be able to then transfer into T20. To me, they’re played with the same instruments but they’re completely separate games. I think once we do separate it even more, then the skill level of T20 cricket will go to a whole new level altogether,” he said.
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Although he’s 36, McCullum has no intentions of quitting the game anytime soon albeit he realizes that realistically he can’t carry on forever. Regarding his future plans, McCullum said: “I’m invigorated by it, to be honest, the way I’m hitting the ball. So I’ll do that, and then I’d like to transition into some coaching stuff, because I think the IP - especially in T20 - the IP of three hundred and something games is quite valuable, and also I like the idea that I can help people,” he added.
