Calcutta Club The Telegraph National Debate 2025: T20 is the real test of cricket
Telegraph | 9 February 2025
WHEN : Sister Nivedita University presents and Jac Olivol co-presents Calcutta Club The Telegraph National Debate 2025
WHERE: The Calcutta Club Lawns
MOTION: T20 is the real test of cricket
VERDICT: The motion was defeated
FORJoy BhattacharjyaQuizzer, quizmaster, raconteur, cricket analyst, former team director of KKR
Test cricket has a hierarchy. The number of Tests played by India, Australia and England as compared to other countries, there is a huge, huge difference.
So if you look at it, when you are looking at a format which is international, is that what you want? Why are we in Olympic sports today? Why is cricket in Olympic sports today? Because T20 cricket is played by 135 countries.
You know what the biggest and the most simple rule of T20 cricket is? Every country who becomes a member of the ICC in T20 cricket, immediately their matches are decided as T20 internationals. You can be a member of the ICC for 30 years as Sri Lanka was, you get your Test cricket status only very, very late. And the stories that have come out of T20, have been amazing. A lot of you heard about what Afghanistan has become. In Afghanistan, the economy has changed because they started with T20 cricket. Today, you look at some other countries, there are some amazing stories. Papua New Guinea is playing T20 cricket. Uganda is playing T20 cricket. T20 is the only global format of the game.
Test cricket does not have a chance. It just does not reach enough people… Today, Test cricket is a CSR programme of T20 cricket. Around the world it is sustained by T20. There are only two Test series that make money. One is India playing anyone and the rest is Ashes.
My point is very, very simple. First and foremost will be, in one format, to be able to watch a ball outside the off stump and leave it, is a more important skill than being able to get your bat through like AB de Villiers. I cannot believe one skill can be compared to the other just as marathons cannot be compared to 100m sprints.
AGAINSTMukul KesavanHistorian, novelist and columnist of The Telegraph
The fundamental difference between Test cricket and T20 cricket is that the former has batters while the latter has hitters.
As speaker after speaker on both sides testified is that Test cricket is memorable, Test cricket is complex. I am addressing an audience that was witness to one of the greatest Tests India has ever played in 2001 at the Eden Gardens. All of you would be hard pressed to remember a magnificent T20 century a week after it’s done.
Because the five-day format is so long, it encourages individual batsman to try and stay in the crease, to minimise risk and to accumulate individual totals as large as they possibly can. Accumulation really is what defines Test match batters. T20 cricket, on the other hand, does not have an accumulative phase because it’s such a short, such a compact format.
The skills needed to play T20 cricket are not translatable to play Test cricket.
We should welcome T20 cricket. It produces an economy that sustains both forms of cricket, it’s undeniable. It possibly subsidises Test cricket.
FORDilip VengsarkarThe Colonel. Master wielder of the willow, one of the finest top-order Test batters of his time
I feel the game has evolved over the years. Test cricket was getting very slow and boring. After India won the cricket World Cup in 1983, one-day matches became very popular. But after a few years, ODIs too became monotonous.
The matches between India and Pakistan in Sharjah were very popular. A lot of people would watch those matches from the stands and on the television. But Test matches did not have much enthusiasm. In many matches, when we played Pakistan, we used to get only 5,000-10,000 people for a Test match.... In 2007, India was the last to accept the T20 format. They were resistant to the format but the International Cricket Council was adamant that India had to play the World Cup. Then we picked the side for the T20 World Cup. I was the chairman of the selection panel that made M.S. Dhoni the captain and sent the side to South Africa for the inaugural T20 World Cup. And, as we know, India won the Cup.
When we came from South Africa, IPL was started. The IPL was a huge success not only for the board but also for the cricketers. Now these young kids are earning in crores. Because of the IPL, youngsters have become fearless.
I guess, the format is going to stay. I am not against Test cricket. It is a very important format. But T20 is going to stay. I am sure. Because of T20s, Indian boards could give funds to the associations and they, in turn, invested in improving infrastructure. They developed grounds all over India. Players from smaller states can play for India. The former cricketers are getting pensions because of the money. T20 is played all over the world.
AGAINSTMudar PatheryaCricket writer, heritage activist and Calcutta lover
I am going to start with Downton Abbey. It has been produced in two formats — a teleserial and a film. I am assuming the teleserial is Test and the film is T20.
Fifty-two episodes, six seasons. The film is 130 minutes. Why do you need to make the teleserial? It’s a waste of public time. Now you come to a big argument. The film didn’t bomb. It did reasonably well. They made a second film which bombed. What did the teleseries do?
The standalone film lacked the long-term audience engagement. See the words. Long-term. There must be a magic in the long-term.
Test cricket has already begun to evolve. We are passing through what I believe is the golden age of Test cricket. Test matches are ending quicker. Test matches have more things happening in a single day than ever before.
What are we trying to say? That this format has fossilised? Has lost its relevance?
I am saying the reality is something deeper. This format is now emerging as the ultimate test of human character.
To say that T20 is only a microcosm of cricket is to completely miss the point. There is T20-isation of life that is happening. People are wanting things now. What used to be an advertisement 2-minute noodle is effectively becoming a 2-minute solution to life.
And why is it that a Test match with five days is so important to preserve? So that we as a humankind and we as a species endure. A Test match comprises very diverse virtues. It’s effectively a format for life.
FORDiana EduljiAll-rounder and former India captain
As IPL did for men’s cricket, the WPL has done for women’s cricket. It is already a big hit. It is already in the third season. I don’t grudge the current players. I am glad that they are making money. I am glad that they are being glamourised and they are popular.
T20 is very important because it attracts the crowd. We like to see the big hitters from all over the world. And the game has really moved upwards. I will give you one example. Shefali Verma. At the age of 16, she came into the scene hitting sixes after sixes.
I would have thrived in T20 because I loved hitting sixes. In T20 a lot of players from the villages are coming in. T20 is such that we can attract them. They can make their careers. Nowadays these girls have central contracts. Nobody is worried about jobs. We were waiting to get a job. Railways were the only lifeline of women’s cricket. So these are the things which couldn’t have happened in those days. We are seeing the change and we are glad. See the way the WPL is becoming organised. It’s moving. That’s the way it has to be. It has to be taken to the interiors. We have got players from all over the country. From small villages they are coming. Kerala is already producing women cricketers, which is something great. They had only Sanju Samson so far. But we have already got two. T20 is required. Even if you want Test cricket to survive, you have to have these tournaments of T20.
AGAINST
Kirti Azad
Member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team led by Kapil Dev. Now a Trinamool Congress MP
I admire Dilip Vengsarkar, Arjuna Ranatunga. They have the kind of class, they have fought against sides when the team has been in dire straits. T20 doesn’t give you that opportunity. It’s a 2-minute noodle. It’s sumptuous but not nutritious. (In T20), there is no value for your wicket.
These two (pointing towards Vengsarkar and Ranatunga) here would value their wicket. They used to be battered black and blue by the West Indian fast bowlers on tracks that were fast, bouncy and had moisture. They would take everything on their body and once they went off the attack, these fast bowlers, they would go on to score hundreds. This is what Test cricket is. Now, there is flat track. The ball comes on to you and you hit them straight. They are sensational but they are not greats like these two.
They (the greats) have played in adverse circumstances, they have shown patience, they have shown strategy, how to build your innings, played with tail-enders.
Dilip Doshi, of all persons, speaking for T20? One of the greatest left-arm spinners. Tell me what will he do in four overs? A man who would slowly with his guile, with his flight… on a track which is not turning, using his guile as a spinner, keeping a slip, a silly point, a forward short leg, trying to get a batsman out. That is Test cricket.
Both the Dilips (Doshi and Vengsarkar) should have been here, this side. I was a hitter, I should have been on the other side.
T20 is a Chinese product. It is quantity, not quality. I am not against the game. I love it.
In Bengal, I too eat fish because I come from Mithila, every second shop will give you fish and chips. No one knows which is the fish, the batter is so thick. You have potato, you have a lot of mayonnaise, second-grade mustard sauce, tomato sauce and you say very good. That is like a 2-minute noodle. If you go, select fish, steam it or grill it, put a little bit of garlic and ginger, a little bit of salt, rub it, leave it to marinate, grill it and when you eat it with the entire fish right in front of you, slowly and surely with your hand, you are careful about that bone might just get stuck in your throat. So you carefully eat that. You slow down so that by mistake if the bone comes to your throat it is something like you if lose a wicket… You are careful, you are building your innings, you slow down, slowly and surely you go ahead and finish. This is good for you. Fish and chips is not good for you. Test cricket is healthy for you.
Test cricket makes masters, greats. Test cricket produced greats like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Arjun Ranatunga, Dilip Vengsarkar, Dilip Doshi, Diana Edulji. They are produced by Test cricket.
FOR
Dilip Doshi
Former India left-arm spinner
This evening is about cricket, whether it’s T20 or Test. I am going to talk about cricket. I think cricket is a very romantic game and, as Neville Cardus described it, like outdoor chess.
If we focus on T20, in my view, there is much less skill. It is an opportunistic game in a way but it has come to stay. So we need to nurture that as well. So, in my view, 25 to 30 per cent of T20 cricket and almost 70 per cent of Test cricket would be ideal for the health of the game and balance. Test cricket could be more exciting by changing and tweaking some rules.
I think some rules have to be changed to make it more exciting. I wonder how many of you actually would go to see Test cricket anymore because the grounds are big but facilities may not be there for families to go and see. So I also feel, in India, especially BCCI, ought to market Test cricket better. Everything today is marketed well. T20 is marketed well and the grounds have to be more conducive for families to go and see. And that is how Test cricket will survive. I think the quality of cricket is totally dependent on first-class cricket and Test cricket. If you see, T20 is only a small variety of the main game. It has come to stay. So let’s accept that.
AGAINST
Arjuna Ranatunga
Captain of the 1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lanka team and a man credited with revolutionising cricket
I don’t know who started this Test cricket. Why do they call it Test? Because that is what it is. It is a test of character. Honestly, I am old-fashioned; I am not a 20-20 fan. Test cricket is about quality and character. T20 is about quantity and entertainment.
There are chairmen and managing directors in this audience. A young guy comes to your office as a marketing executive. Straightaway, you are not going to promote him to a marketing director. That is what Test cricket is all about. You have to show the other countries that you have to be good enough to play Test cricket. The infrastructure has to be there. That is one of the problems we (Sri Lanka) had. We never had money, we never had the infrastructure but we had good cricketers. Sri Lanka struggled to get Test status for ages and I was one of the luckier guys. When I was in school, I got to the national side. I played in Sri Lanka’s first Test.
As young players, we were cursing the Gavaskars, Vengsarkars and Amarnaths. We couldn’t get them out twice. After that, the Azharuddins, Tendulkars, Vinod Kamblis, Dravids — what quality players India had. Do we have that class in India now? If I have this Indian side playing against my ’96 side, I will get them out twice. I will beat India in India. Watching India play in Australia, I feel sad.
You take T20, it’s all about entertainment.... If you have power, you don’t need technique to play T20. To play Test cricket, you need quality, you need technique, you need brains. The players are allowed to play franchise cricket without playing for the country.
Ultimately, the value of playing for your country will be gone in another five years. The pride of representing your country will be gone in another five years if we don’t handle it properly.