Not in favour of four-day Tests, says India captain Kohli

PTI, Jan 4, 2020, 3:50 PM IST

Guwahati: Indian captain Virat Kohli on Saturday strongly opposed the “four-day Test” proposed by the ICC as he is not in favour of any alterations which hurts the sanctity of the traditional five-day format.

The ICC wants to try out the four-day Test matches during the next FTP cycle between 2023-2031 in order to get more free days for the commercially lucrative shorter formats.

While this is at the proposal stage, Cricket Australia had expressed its intent of trying out the format even though senior bowler Nathan Lyon termed it “ridiculous”.

“According to me, it should not be altered. As I said, the day-night is another step towards commercialising Test cricket and you know, creating excitement around it, but it can’t be tinkered with too much. I don’t believe so,” Kohli, one of the biggest names in world cricket, told mediapersons on the eve of first T20 against Sri Lanka.

India recently played Day/Night Tests and that’s about the change Kohli would like in the five-day version for now.

“You know the Day-Night Test is the most that should be changed about Test cricket, according to me,” he said.