The world is moving at a rapid pace where time has become a luxury. The attention spans of the people have been reduced, all thanks to social media. Test cricket, considered the most pure form of cricket in the world, is witnessing a drop in the audience as the years go by. It’s a 5-day game that tests every cricketer’s strength and endurance, which is the reason that any cricketer’s greatness is judged by looking at his stats in test cricket. Test cricket began in 1877, and it’s the best format for a genuine cricket lover.
It’s a format that gives a bowler an equal chance as compared to limited-over formats where bowlers bowl on flat decks just to make it appealing for the audience. As most people come to see balls flying out of the ground, which is not cricket, then it can be termed as circus. The major reason for the decline in popularity of 5 day game is the introduction of the T20 format and different leagues that are happening around the world. Every cricketer who watches their idol nowadays aims to play just IPL, not for India, because the big bucks lie in IPL.
The soul of cricket that is Test cricket will vanish in 1 or 2 decades, which will be painful for test cricket lovers as the number of T20 leagues is happening in as many as 8-10 countries that keeps an international player occupied, and it will begin the decline of international cricket; therefore, international cricket will be only limited to major tournaments like world cups, which is the case with football. T20 leagues will take over international cricket as long as the pockets of cricket boards around the world are filled with enormous money. We can hope for a balance between the test cricket and T20 leagues. It’s the ICC who has to take action; otherwise, we will be only left with a single format, which is T20.