Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg has advised the authorities to ditch the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship ‘for a while’ when the action finally resumes after the ongoing coronavirus pandemic reduces. The fate of the Test Championship is not clear because of the pandemic.
So far, 2 Test series (Sri Lanka vs. England, Bangladesh vs. Australia) have already been called-off due to the pandemic. With little clearness over when will things end up being normal, it looks highly unlikely that the Test Championship would go ahead as planned. The final of the tournament is scheduled to take place in June next year.
While only time will tell the fate of the Championship, Brad Hogg said the pandemic had opened the door for the ‘rebirth’ of cricket, and viewers would want more competitive cricket series. Brad Hogg suggested that the World Test Championship can be replaced with Ashes and a Test series between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. He said that India’s upcoming tour of Australia should be called-off and replaced by the Ashes.
“Viewers want to see some competitive cricket, so scrap the World Test Championship for a while and get a couple of series that are really going to ignite the interest around the world,” Brad Hogg stated.
“Firstly scrap this summer’s India series against Australia and have the Ashes played instead,” he added.
He further said India and Pakistan should play a 4-match series with 2 Tests in Pakistan and the other 2 in India. The World Cup-winner added that fans had been starved of the India-Pakistan series, and the post COVID-19 world could be a good time to resume the rivalry.
“But on the flip side of not having India there, where do they play? They play a 4-match series against Pakistan during the Christmas period– 2 matches in Pakistan and 2 matches in India.
“We have not seen it for a while, and the public is starving for it,” Brad Hogg stated.
India and Pakistan have not played a Test series since 2007. Both the arch-rivals last played a bilateral series in 2012-13 season when Pakistan visited India for a short limited-overs series.
