World Test Championship a good thing

In Indian Express, the editorial column validates the ICC's decision to have a World Test Championship, for it allows each format of the game to have one pinnacle global tournament pinned to it. With the Test mace changing hands a few times over the last few years, a championship could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

In 1999, when Jagmohan Dalmiya was Asian Cricket Council chief, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had played an Asian Test Championship between them. It didn't prove to be financially viable. Now with all the top teams interested, the World Test Championship is likely to avoid the same problem. It's good news for India also. Turnout in Test matches in this country has declined to an historic low.

The allotment of the 2021 World Test Championship and 2023 World Cup to India will satisfy the sponsors, but we can't say for sure if there will be a market for either tournament 10 years down the line. The lack of spectators in Tests and ODIs at certain Indian venues is an indication, writes Dileep Premachandran in the National.

The 2023 World Cup will have to deal with a very different challenge. By the time it is played, Virat Kohli, the best of India's new generation of batsmen, will be nearly 35. Kohli's age group is the last of its kind, which grew up loving a game played over five days or 50 overs a side. By 2023, the Indian Premier League generation, which was introduced to the game via Twenty20, will be knocking on the door. Will 50-over cricket matter to them, or will it be the unwanted middle child squeezed out as T20 competitions continue to mushroom around the world?