Rameez Raja urges ICC to create 'Test window'

: In a bid to preserve Test cricket, former Pakistan batsman Rameez Raja has asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to set aside a two-month window solely for Test matches.

 

"I feel that the ICC has a decent plan in the shape of the World Test Championship," Sport24 quoted Raja as saying after a committee meeting at Lord's on Tuesday.

"There should be a window for that and everything else should stop for a period of two months so the best players are available to play Test cricket," he added.

Raja, who is a member of the Melbourne Cricket Committee (MCC), fears that interest for Test cricket in Asia is "dwindling" partly because of the lucrative domestic T20 leagues like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"It's got to get better. In Asia, for example, because of poor Test match scheduling, the interest is dwindling," said Raja.

"When you go back home



you are never sure if you are going to have a one-Test series, a two-Test series or whether you are going to have a Test series at all," he added.

The 54-year-old further called on the national governing bodies such as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to play their parts in preserving the longest format of the game.

"You have to acknowledge and respect the status of Test match cricket and it has to come from the cricket boards, in Asia specifically," said Raja.

"For example, MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from the BCCI, Shahid Afridi retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from PCB. It is under a lot of stress in Asia but if we have a properly planned Test match championship, that's the way out of this, otherwise we will be struggling to put aside as much money as is available for the T20 leagues," he insisted.