Should WTC final be best-of-three series, not one-off Test? Sachin shares thoughts
Jun 06, 2023
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 6 : One of the greatest cricketers in the world Sachin Tendulkar revealed his thoughts about the concept of making the World Test Championship final a best-of-three series rather than a one-off test match.
This debate has spread all over the internet as well as cricket experts have shared their thoughts on this matter. The reason for this debate arising is that some people don't consider a single Test match as the best way to decide on a trophy whose qualification for the final goes on for two years. The second thing is in case of a draw the trophy will be shared by both teams, the best of three rules out both of these aspects.
But Sachin believes that it is quite hard to execute a three-match WTC final due to various reasons. In his video he said, "To be honest I have not studied this properly but to be answering this question one should also have some awareness of the international calendar. I am not just talking about Test, ODI or T20 cricket I am talking about various leagues being played across the globe."
"If we are looking at the best of three then one would expect at least six to seven days of some practice before you play the first test. So those seven days gone, one week gone then you play a five-day test so seven plus five we go 12 then three days break that makes it 15 then you play the second test match 20 days gone there already three days of rest again 23 and then five more days so best of three we are looking at 28 days, four weeks it's not so easy to find a window where four weeks there is no action and not knowing which is going to be number 1 and number 2," Sachin added.
"So one thought was I know number guys of guys discussing one could be let's say India playing against Australia so one could be in India then one could be played in India the second could be played in Australia and the third would be at a neutral venue. So you add travel time to this you are looking at 30-32 days. It is impractical to arrange everything in the last moment. I know it is test cricket world test championship it is a big thing but to be able to organize all these things at the last moment the demand is too high," Sachin signed off.
The WTC 2023 final will be played between India and Australia. The match will begin at 3 pm IST from June 7 and will be played till June 11 at the Oval, London. A reserve day is also in place if the weather intervenes to spoil the sport.
India's squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).
Suryakumar Yadav, Mukesh Kumar and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been named as stand-by players for the high-stakes match.
Australia squad for WTC final: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David WarnerStandby players: Mitch Marsh, and Matthew Renshaw.