"You might have to end the Test championship after another 2 cycles" - Aakash Chopra on the economics of cricket deciding the WTC schedule

Aakash Chopra feels the World Test Championship (WTC) might have to be stopped after another couple of cycles if the discrepancy in scheduling across teams persists.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) recently announced the schedule for the 2023-25 WTC cycle. While India, England, and Australia will be playing five-Test series against each other, the rest of the clashes will be either two or three-Test affairs.

Reflecting on the schedule in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra wasn't too confident about the World Test Championship's future:

"We are saying it is all equal because they have made it percentage points but is it only about percentage points? The truth is that T20 and other cricket need to fund Test cricket."

The former Indian opener added:

"If you keep cutting matches in Test cricket as it does not justify the commerce, I feel you might have to end the Test championship after another two cycles because only three teams will be playing."

Chopra pointed out that even a one-Test series might have been played if that was allowed:

"England, Australia and India are the three countries that play the most Test cricket. Everyone else gets either a two or three-match series because you don't call one match as a series, or else that too might have happened."

Chopra cited India's schedule for the 2023-25 WTC cycle to substantiate his point. He highlighted that while the two-time runners-up will play a five-Test series against both England and Australia, they will play only two Tests each against Bangladesh, West Indies and South Africa, and three Tests against New Zealand.

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"It doesn't matter where you end" - Aakash Chopra on New Zealand not getting enough Tests

New Zealand won the inaugural World Test Championship.

Aakash Chopra highlighted that a team's performance does not define their schedule:

"It doesn't matter where you end. You might be the best team, you might have the Test mace as well, but your number of Test matches is decided by the economics of cricket. You might have won the Test mace and become a very good team but because of that you don't get anything extra."

The cricketer-turned-commentator gave New Zealand's example to substantiate his point:

"When New Zealand won in the last Test cycle, they were among the three or four teams who had played the least Tests. After that, they won the Test mace and became the best Test team in the world, so teams should have made a beeline to play against New Zealand, but their situation was the same in the last two years' cycle as well."

Chopra concluded by opining that every series should have a minimum of three Tests. He observed that the current schedule is beyond his understanding and that it is unfair to have a two-Test series.