S P R T Future of Test cricket could be like Wimbledon, says Rajasthan Royals owner Manoj Badale

The future of Test cricket might be short once-a-year events like the Wimbledon tennis tournament, according to Rajasthan Royals lead owner Manoj Badale.

One of the biggest issues cricket faces is the scheduling with some sides playing two series in two different formats concurrently in recent years.

Badale estimates some of the world’s best players can play cricket on 220-230 days of the year, across T20, one-day and Tests.

England Test captain Ben Stokes retired from one-day internationals last July saying “there is too much cricket” and players “are not cars” that can be “refilled and go back out there”.

“We can make Test cricket work if we make it more of an event,” Badale told the Tailenders podcast.

“We should have it at the same time every year, played between a small set of nations that can actually afford it and Lord’s becomes like a Wimbledon, an event that is the diary.

“The amount of times I hear arguments like ‘Ben Stokes wants to play Test cricket’ - that is important but what is really important is what the fans of the future want to watch and where are they going to spend their hard-earned money.

“We are going to have to think creatively about Test cricket if we want it to work.”

Last summer, England’s Test side faced New Zealand at home while their white-ball team toured the Netherlands.

In March a white-ball series in Bangladesh started one day after a Test tour of New Zealand finished.

India have regularly had white-ball sides on tour while another set of players is playing another format elsewhere.

“There are too many formats,” said Badale. “I would be more worried about the ODI game right now.

“It is difficult one for me because Test cricket is what you grow up on as a fan and I haven’t missed the first day at Lord’s for however many years, it is still my preferred format.

“But it is not about me, it is about what the 10-15-year-olds in India and across the world are thinking.”

‘T20s have got too long, T10 is going to be interesting’

A report in The Times last week said six English players had been approached about signing multi-year deals with their Indian Premier League franchises to play in multiple leagues across the world.

Seven of the 10 men’s IPL teams have sides in different leagues across the world including the West Indies, South Africa, United Arab Emirates and a USA-based league.

Former England and IPL all-rounder Ravi Bopara told the BBC Test Match Special podcast that the contracts are “coming” and “not a surprise”.

Badale said he expects franchises to “become bigger entities” and “play in more leagues”.

“I do genuinely believe in the next three to five years there are a number of choices that the administrators are going to make that are going to be really game-defining,” said Badale.

“We are the second most-popular sport in the world at the moment but our real competition is other forms of entertainment.

“We’ve got too many franchise leagues now so you can have a hierarchy of the IPL, some major leagues and then some minor leagues.”

Cricket has a long-held desire to get into the Olympic Games but Badale feels the current formats restrict the likelihood of that happening.

“I was at a game at the Wankhede [stadium in Mumbai] the other day and the game was 4 hours and 15 minutes - that’s too long, so I think in a way T20 has got too long.

“The T10 [10 overs per side] is going to become an interesting one.

“The only way I can see cricket in the Olympics is T10, where you can get it done in 10 days.”

‘Don’t solve time issues with a new format’

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) introduced a new 100-ball competition in 2021 designed to attract a more diverse audience to the game and fit within a two-and-a-half hour slot for broadcasters.

There have been reports they are considering axing the tournament after no other countries adopted the format and after it had made losses of £9m in the first two years.

Badale feels the ECB should be willing to stick with the format.

“I don’t think the right question is ‘what are you losing?’, it is ‘what are you prepared to invest?’,” Badale said.

“People go on about the IPL now but there were hundreds of millions of dollars invested in the first five to seven years. Everyone forgets it was loss-making for years.

“I saw an article that the Hundred lost nine million dollars, that is irrelevant to me. If there is an economical model that works it could be huge.”

However, Badale said he doesn’t believe the solution was another format.

“I tend to agree that T20 works, why do we need another format?” Badale said.

“I do think administrators tend to prioritise trying to look different over what we should prioritise.

“The problem they were trying to solve with The Hundred is that T20 games were getting too long, and I do think four and a half hours is too long, but you don’t have to solve that by changing the format.”