Test cricket is dying, and the people running the game are the ones killing it. T20 franchise leagues have been handed the calendar, the money, and the players. Test cricket gets whatever is left over.
The IPL alone is now valued at $20.6 billion, ranking second only to the NFL globally on a per-match basis. Every year from March to May, Test cricket does not exist because the IPL window is protected. No board will schedule a Test series against it.
Test cricket is dying. The rise of T20 leagues and franchise cricket has made the longest format an afterthought in the global calendar. The game’s highest standard is not fading naturally. It is being sacrificed for shorter formats.
Cricket Voices, September 2026
The ICC admitted the problem at its 2026 AGM, forming a committee to “assess the harmonisation of franchise cricket with the international calendar.” When the governing body of world cricket needs a committee to figure out where its own game fits, the argument is already lost.
South Africa selected a second-string squad for a Test series to protect their best players for the SA20. Steve Waugh called it a “defining moment” in the death of Test cricket. In July 2026, West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph was fit, selected, and declined to play a Test series against Pakistan. Head coach Darren Sammy confirmed it: “He was selected. He has declined the selection.” A healthy cricketer turning down a Test cap used to be unthinkable.
“The easy money is in franchise cricket. It is the fast track to notoriety.”
Mitchell Starc, interview with The Guardian, 2023
Shane Watson warned that the next generation of fast bowlers will ask whether they want to push their bodies to “breaking point” for Tests or “put all my eggs in the T20 basket.” For most, the answer is already obvious.
The Three-Day Test Problem
The damage runs deeper than scheduling. T20 has changed how batters are built. Test cricket demands patience and the ability to bat for sessions without giving your wicket away. In T20, attack from ball one or get replaced. That mentality has bled into red-ball cricket so deeply that matches now regularly finish inside three days. When Harbhajan Singh warned about the patience Test cricket requires, he was pointing at this exact collapse in batting discipline.
Insider Read
Test cricket is the heart of the game because it tests everything. Technique, patience, the ability to bat five sessions and grind a bowling attack into the ground. T20 has turned batting into a one-dimensional skill. Attack or get out. In franchise cricket, there is no reward for surviving 30 dot balls. There is no reward for wearing down a fast bowler across two spells. The batter who blocks for an hour is the batter who gets dropped.
That mentality has infected Test cricket completely. Batters walk out with T20 instincts and get exposed inside 15 overs. No fight. No resistance. That is why Test matches finish in three days now. Not because the bowling is unplayable. Because the batting no longer has the patience or the proper technique to make a Test last five days.
Also Read:
One Response