- Limit Test first innings to 90 overs for each team
- 60-70 overs for each team in the second knock
- A Test match lasts four days, batsmen can build their innings, bowlers need to take wickets
- A result is assured
***
M.A.K. Pataudi has of late been advocating a tweaking of Test cricket to ensure a result. His formula: limit the number of overs each team plays, say 90 overs in the first innings and 60- 70 in the second. Pataudi explains, "The game might last four days, but there will be a result. The batsmen will have a chance, for they will have enough overs to build their innings. The bowlers will have to learn to take wickets."
So would he be happy to see this? Pataudi answers, "I wouldn’t be in the least unhappy. I’m bit of a traditionalist as far as Test cricket is concerned...it’s the ultimate contest, but it seems to be losing popularity in India."
Most other players Outlook spoke to, however, didn’t see any need to introduce changes to Test cricket. "What we need to change to make Tests interesting is the nature of wickets," Imran Khan says. "We need to have pitches that are not overly in favour of the batsmen or the bowler. As for T20 cricket, it’s not serious cricket. The shorter the game, the greater the element of chance in it. I still look up only Test averages to judge a player."
Kapil Dev remains a fan of Test cricket but says there are points to admired in the feats performed in T20. "People say that playing techniques will be affected by T20, but do we wish to remain as we were 100 years ago? In our days, we never played a shot for six runs over point. We should be proud of the players who can think of new ways to score runs." M.S. Dhoni notes that there’s been an important effect of limited-overs cricket on Tests—batsmen are scoring at a faster rate in the latter. "Before T20, there were Tests and one-dayers, and they won’t change," he said. "There won’t be too many changes in the way we play cricket."
One man who simply seems to loathe T20 is, surprisingly, Javed Miandad (who would have done well in it). "The base of cricket still is and will remain Test cricket; T20 cricket is not really cricket," he fumes. "It’s stupid cricket, only for the batsmen. It will destroy the confidence of the bowlers, it will destroy cricket."
