India defeats spell danger for Test cricket

They are the nation that pulls all the strings in world cricket and their previous success - the World Cup win in 1983 and World T20 triumph of 2007 - has created major change in the game. But now it is their lack of success that potentially creates the next shift. Charles Alexander and Peter Oborne argue in the Telegraph that India's demise in the longest format could spell the demise for the game at large.

It is Test cricket which could be squeezed out of the Indian TV schedules altogether to the point of extinction, save perhaps the iconic Ashes and domestic India Test Matches (if they can by then find any opposition.) Indian broadcasters privately predict and even welcome this outcome. Their focus, and financial investment, is on the World Cup of 2015. India will probably do well in front of massive domestic TV audiences. But the destruction of Test cricket, the highest form of the game, would in the end destroy the game itself.