Miandad against making Test matches four day affairs

Karachi, July 2 (ANI): Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has objected to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) idea of reducing the duration of Test matches from five days to four.

When asked to comment on the idea floated by the ICC president David Morgan, Miandad said any such step would ruin the traditional format of the game.

"To have four-day Tests played with coloured balls and under floodlights will be the sort of experimentation which Test cricket doesn't need," The News quoted Miandad, as saying.

Miandad said the ICC's proposal to cut short the duration of Test matches would commercialize the game only, and could prove counter-productive.

"It will not be good for Tests which I still believe is the real cricket. It should be spared of any experimentation, which I believe is being planned for the sake of commercialisation, for the greater interest of the sport," he said.

Earlier, in an interview, Morgan had said that Test cricket must be made more exciting through a series of steps, so that the oldest format of the game remains at the pinnacle.

Miandad said the popularity of Twenty20 cricket is undermining Test cricket, and termed bang-bang version of the sports as a 'bad habit'.

He said nowadays hard hitters like Yousuf Pathan were more popular than other technically sound batsman.

"Take India's example. Players like Yousuf Pathan are more popular than most of his more illustrious team-mates because of Twenty20 cricket these days. It is just like fast food, a bad habit," Miandad said. (ANI)