"It should not be tinkered with" – Sachin Tendulkar adds to four-day Test critics

It recently emerged that four-day Tests could become a mandatory part of the World Test Championship from 2023

Sachin Tendulkar has become the latest high-profile figure to argue against calls for four-day Test matches.

It was recently reported that the shortened games could become a mandatory part of the World Test Championship from 2023, with officials from both England and Australia said to be keen to look into the idea further.

Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts has admitted that the concept has to be ‘seriously considered’.

Tendulkar follows fellow India icon Virat Kohli in warning against altering the game’s longest format.

“Spinners look forward to bowling with the scruffed ball, taking advantage on day five of the roughs created on the wickets,” Tendulkar told Mumbai Mirror.

“All that is part of Test cricket. Is it fair to take that advantage away from spinners? There is T20, there is one-dayers and then there are T10 and 100-ball cricket. Test is the purest form of cricket. It should not be tinkered with.”

Kohli suggested that reducing the number of days would represent the beginning of a slippery slope for Test cricket.

“According to me, it should not be altered,” he explained ahead of India’s T20I series against Sri Lanka.

“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.

“Then you are purely only talking about getting numbers and entertainment. I think the intent will not be right because then you will speak of three-day Tests. I mean where do you end? Then you will speak of Test cricket disappearing.

“So, I don’t endorse that at all. I don’t think it is fair to the purest format of the game. How cricket started initially; five-day Tests was the highest of tests you can have at the international level.

“I was asked about the 100-ball format (The Hundred) and I said I am not going to go and try myself out in another kind of format because there’s already so much going on.”

^{Virat Kohli has also argued against four-day Tests}

Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon has also poured scorn on the suggestions, as has his captain Tim Paine and fast bowler Josh Hazlewood.

Lyon added: “Ridiculous. You look at all the big games around the world and some of the best Test matches I've been part of, they go down to the last day.

“I'm not a fan of four-day Test matches. I believe you'll get so many more draws and day five is crucial. One, there's the weather element.

“But the wickets these days are probably a lot flatter than they have been in the past, so it allows teams to bat longer and to put pressure on sides. And you need that time for the pitch to deteriorate and bring spinners in more on day five as well.

“I'm totally against it and I really hope ICC aren't even considering it.”

While some four-day Tests were played in Test cricket’s early days and then again in the 1970s, the ICC approved a request for a four-day game between South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2017 and they have been an option since.

Ultimately, the Proteas – captained by AB de Villiers – would win inside just two days. England then beat Ireland inside three days at Lord's in 2019.