You go to India now and they won’t watch Test cricket, it’s all IPL: Ian Botham
Indian Test team during Bangladesh tour (Twitter)
Cricket in India has been considered a religion, however; since the inception of the Indian Premier League, the purest form of cricket has seen a severe dip. The viewers have got too much of cricket on their plate, resulting in international sport - especially Test cricket - facing its consequences.
Former England allrounder, Sir Ian Botham, has revelations about Indian cricket and, most importantly, BCCI's cash-rich cow - the Indian Premier League.
While talking about Test cricket played in Australia and England, the legendary former English allrounder critiqued cricket played in India.
"You go to India now and they won’t watch Test cricket. It’s all IPL. They earn big money and it sounds great now, but how long do they think this is going to last? Test cricket has been around for 100 years plus, it’s not going to go anywhere."
"If we do lose Test cricket, then we’ll lose cricket as we know it. It will become meaningless. To play a Test match is what every player should want to do," Botham added.
The former English captain further spoke about the upcoming and much-anticipated Test series between India and Australia, prior to which the visitors haven't got any practice matches.
"To think that Australia go to India, they play four Tests over there with no warm-up game. They’ll play on totally different wickets to what they will in England, and the only player so far who realises that and has said ‘I’m going to play for Sussex’, is Steve Smith. Why’s he their best player? The simple reason he thinks ahead."
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia will commence from February 8. While the IPL 2023 is slanted to be played in April and May - where a total of 48 players from Australia and England will be playing.
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 "Arjun Bhalla")
