Test cricket's future: Fewer India tours hurting teams outside Big Three

India’s Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and others celebrate a wicket during the 2nd Test Day 2 against South Africa at the India Tour of South Africa 2023-24

Cricket South Africa’s new franchise league, SA20, a year into its existence is the cursed child of world cricket. Accused of dangling the financial carrot and luring CSA to devalue Test cricket and therefore the World Test Championship (WTC), stalwarts like Steve Waugh feel the South Africa cricket board doesn’t care. There’s been widespread condemnation of CSA’s directive to its lead players to choose SA20 over the upcoming Tests in New Zealand.

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who once battled in whites with a broken arm, is the commissioner of SA20. CSA, expressing its inability to manoeuvre the schedules under the WTC structure, has stood firm that its league is a way to a better financial future for its players.

But that will take time. Despite the crowds it drew, the league in its first edition contributed only 18 million rand (approx ₹8 crore or $963,000/-) to the CSA coffers. It’s the just concluded India series — worth nearly $70 million — that will help them write off losses of the past three years and turn the balance sheet black. The financial returns from the India tour are double of CSA’s annual share from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

It’s the same story with every cricket board other than the Big Three. In the franchise dominated landscape, bilateral rights are difficult to sell unless India come visiting. Test cricket becomes the first casualty in framing a lean tours programme.

ICC says its hands are tied as far as bilateral scheduling is concerned. Its officials argue that WTC is offering context to every Test. But the current WTC arrangement’s shortcomings are laid bare by South Africa, a Test powerhouse set to go to New Zealand comprising a squad of seven uncapped players, including skipper Neil Brand. Pakistan’s new T20 skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi sat out of the Sydney Test that ended on Saturday to manage his workload for the upcoming T20 season. At 29, Quinton de Kock, in prime form, gave up Test cricket. It’s no longer news when West Indies cricketers turn their back on Tests.

FEWER INDIA TESTS

An often overlooked consequence of the WTC format is India playing fewer away Tests. BCCI has cut the flab from its Test calendar as every board must. India is slated to play 36 Tests in the WTC cycle (2019-27) as opposed to the 52 they played in the same time span previously. Take South Africa (only 2 Tests played) and West Indies, where India will play three fewer Tests, four fewer in Sri Lanka and one less in Bangladesh.

India will still play a healthy diet of Test cricket in Australia and England through 5-Test reciprocal tours. Tests in Australia and England still ring in revenue. A crowd of 34,142 turned up on Day 1 at SCG to watch Dave Warner bid farewell to Tests. Over 22,000 were present when Australia wrapped the game against Pakistan on Saturday. BCCI has IPL to take care of its finances.

CSA has taken a conscious call to prioritise white-ball cricket over Tests. The Proteas play only 28 Tests in the current FTP (2023-27) to England’s 43, Australia’s 40 and India’s 38. “It is and continues to be a difficult decision, especially for a Test-loving country such as ours. But the reality of the shrinking international calendar for bilaterals, as well as the cost of hosting a Test, influenced decisions of most members, us included,” CSA CEO Pholetsi Moseki told HT last year.

Hosting a Test involves a range of expenditure, from pre-tour recce costs to five days of five-star bookings for teams. The bulk of the spending goes for TV production, which can only be covered by a healthy media rights contract. With waning interest for Test cricket and fall in playing standards in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the West Indies, digital rights at bargain price have become the norm.

For many boards, only franchise leagues attract some broadcast interest for non-India action. Even here, revenue generation is driven by the quality of the player pool. This is the territory CSA is looking to protect. This is its attempt to safeguard a new revenue stream like Pakistan does with Pakistan Super League (PSL). Any bilateral cricket against India, let alone an inbound India tour, looks out of question for the Pakistan Cricket Board.

In New Zealand’s case, an unfavorable time zone will mean continued short tours by India. Zimbabwe has fallen off the Test map. New Test entrants Afghanistan and Ireland are unlikely to host India for the first time anytime soon.

For all its history, drama and visual appeal, Test cricket’s universal sustenance remains in doubt unless it becomes financially self-sustaining and not over-reliant on Indian stars to come to town and pose as competition.

It’s been almost a decade since the Big Three moved to virtually introduce a two-tier Test structure, which was foiled in the ICC corridors. A presumably more equitable WTC has been set in motion. But the Test Cricket Fund, which even the Big Three’s controversial ‘position paper’ had promised, is nowhere in sight.

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