Kohli against four-day Tests

India captain Virat Kohli has expressed his opposition to four-day Test matches being made mandatory. “I don’t endorse that at all,” Kohli said, speaking before India’s first Twenty20 game against Sri Lanka in Guwahati today.

“Four-day Tests? I’m not a fan,” Kohli revealed. “I think the intent will not be right then, because then you will speak of three-day Tests. Then you speak of Test cricket disappearing.

“I don’t think that’s fair to the purest format of the game – how cricket started initially – and five-day Test matches was the highest of tests you can have at the international level.”

Kohli was speaking after news that the International Cricket Council is considering making four-day Tests mandatory from 2023. The England and Wales Cricket Board has said it is “definite proponents of the four-day Test concept”, as The Telegraph revealed exclusively this week.

Kohli’s power within Indian cricket is such that his intervention makes it more likely that the Board of Control for Cricket in India will not support the proposal. India’s clout in world cricket means that this would be a significant, perhaps even terminal, blow to the controversial idea.

Kohli suggested that, rather than four-day Tests, there should be more day-night Tests played, to make it easier for supporters to watch. “Day-night cricket is the most that needs to be changed about Test cricket,” he said. “I mean, then you’re purely going to be talking about getting the numbers in and entertainment.”