Test Cricket's Future May Resemble Wimbledon, According to Manoj Badale, Owner of the Rajasthan Royals.

Manoj Badale, the principal owner of the Rajasthan Royals, believes that the future of Test cricket may consist of brief once-a-year competitions like the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

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BBC News

The scheduling of cricket is one of the main problems, with some teams playing two series in two different forms at the same time in recent years.

Badale predicts that the top cricketers in the world can play T20, one-day, and Test matches on 220-230 days of the year.

Ben Stokes, the captain of the England Test team, announced his retirement from one-day internationals in July of last year, claiming that "there is too much cricket" and that "players are not cars" that can be "refilled and go back out there."

If we make Test cricket more of an event, we can make it work, Badale said on the Tailenders podcast.

"We should play it at the same time every year amongst a select group of wealthy nations so that Lord's becomes like Wimbledon—an occasion that fills the calendar.

"I frequently hear arguments like, "Ben Stokes wants to play Test cricket. That is good, but what is truly essential is what the future fans want to see and where they are going to spend their hard-earned money.

If we want Test cricket to be successful, we will need to come up with some innovative ideas.

'I would be worried about ODIs'

While their white-ball team was touring the Netherlands last summer, England's Test team played New Zealand at home.

One day after a Test tour of New Zealand concluded in March, a white-ball tournament began in Bangladesh.

India has frequently sent white-ball teams on tours while other teams play in different formats in other locations.

"There are too many formats," said Badale. "At the moment, the ODI game would worry me more.

"Test cricket is what you grow up on as a fan, and I haven't missed the opening day at Lord's in however many years. It's still my favored format, so it's a difficult decision for me.

But it's not about me; it's about what kids in India and throughout the world between the ages of 10-15 are thinking.

"T20s are getting too long; T10 will be interesting"

Six English players were reportedly contacted last week about signing multi-year contracts with their Indian Premier League clubs to play in various leagues across the world, according to a story in The Times.

Seven of the ten teams in the men's IPL participate in other leagues across the world, including ones in the West Indies, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and the USA.

The contracts are "coming" and "not a surprise," former England and IPL all-rounder Ravi Bopara said on the BBC Test Match Special program.

"I just attended a game at the Wankhede [stadium in Mumbai] and the game lasted 4 hours, 15 minutes. That's too long, therefore I believe that T20 has grown to be too lengthy.

"The 10-over format [10 overs each side] is likely to get fascinating. 

"T10, where it can be completed in 10 days, is the only way I can see cricket in the Olympics."

"Don't use a new format to address time constraints."

A new 100-ball competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2021 in an effort to broaden the game's appeal and fit it inside a two-and-a-half-hour broadcast window.

According to rumors, the event may be scrapped since no other nations have copied the model and because it has lost £9 million in the first two years.

According to Badale, the ECB ought to be prepared to maintain the format.

The better question, in Badale's opinion, is "What are you prepared to invest?" rather than "What are you losing?"

"People talk about the IPL all the time now, but in the first five to seven years, hundreds of millions of dollars were invested. Everyone has forgotten that it was in the red for years.

Irrelevant to me, I saw a story that claimed the Hundred had lost nine million dollars. If an effective economic model can be found, the potential is enormous.

Badale asserted that he did not think a different format would be the answer.

I tend to concur that T20 is effective; why do we want another format? stated Badale.

"I do believe that administrators frequently put striving to stand out above what we should focus on.

"The problem they were trying to solve with The Hundred was that T20 games were getting too long, and I do think four and a half hours is too long, but you don't have to solve that by changing the format."