Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has rubbished the idea of making Test cricket a four-day affair, alleging that it is a conspiracy against Asian teams and the BCCI will not let it happen.
The ICC is considering introducing four-day Tests during the next FTP cycle.
“Everywhere there is this conspiracy, a theory against Asian teams these days. I feel this (reduction of Tests to four days) is totally against Asian teams,” Shoaib said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
“I feel this idea is rubbish, no one should be interested in it,” he added.
The 44-year-old said the ICC cannot implement the idea without the nod of the world’s richest cricket Board, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
He said BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is a smart man and he will not let Test cricket get ruined. “The ICC cannot implement this rule without the permission of BCCI. Sourav is a smart and intelligent person. He’ll never want to see Test cricket getting damaged,” he said.
Shoaib also echoed Sachin Tendulkar’s view that a four-day game will take away the advantage from spinners.
“Sachin is spot on in his criticism. What will the spinners do? Danesh Kaneria, Mushtaq Ahmed, Ravichandran Aswin, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble have taken 400-500 wickets. What will happen to them?” Shoaib questioned.
