Mahela Jayawardene, a member of the ICC Cricket Committee, on Wednesday said Tests should remain a five-day affair even though the body he is a part of will discuss curtailing the format to four days during an upcoming meeting in Dubai.

Former India captain Anil Kumble, who heads the cricket committee, has said that the proposal will be discussed in the next round of the ICC meetings, to held in Dubai from March 27-31.

Jayawardene, a former captain of Sri Lanka, said he is personally against any change in the Test format.

“We will discuss it in the meeting, and I don’t know what will happen after that but my personal opinion is that it should remain five days. I would not want any change,” he said.

The likes of Andrew Strauss, Rahul Dravid, and Shaun Pollock are also on the cricket committee.

The proposal, which has been floated for the 2023-2031 cycle, has not gone down well with the greats of the game, including Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting, opposing the idea.

Ahead of the three-match T20I series opener against Sri Lanka in Guwahati last week, Kohli made his stance very clear on the subject.

“According to me, it should not be altered. 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,” he said.

Legendary all-rounder Ian Botham has urged the ICC to leave Test cricket “alone” after England’s thrilling win against South Africa in the final hour of the fifth day in Cape Town.

“Well played England...Such a good idea to end 5day test cricket....full house watching cricket at its best !! Leave the flag ship of cricket alone it’s a real test of character, skill,guts,stamina & ability...it’s real cricket for real players !!! Leave it Alone !!!!!!,” Botham tweeted.

Leading Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has termed the idea “ridiculous”.

Meanwhile, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (Fica) has urged administrators to clarify how they plan to utilise the calendar space freed up by the four-day Test move.

“From our discussions with players around the world, and our global survey data, it is clear that there is currently a lot of negative sentiment, within the global collective of players, towards such a significant change to the game’s most traditional format,” Fica said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It is particularly important for us, and the players, to understand how any additional calendar space in the playing schedule would be used.”