Is BCCI’s IPL Focus Affecting India’s Test Cricket?

India has advanced to the finals of the ICC World Test Championship twice in a row but has not been recognised as the top team in the longer format. Pundits would name various reasons why India fell short, but the players’ inability to transition to Test cricket after two months of playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) would be the inevitable conclusion to the post-mortem.

The IPL ended on May 29, and the World Test Championship (WTC) final began eight days later, as players travelled in from the sweltering and humid subcontinent to London. Although it is true that professional cricketers must be able to adapt to any format, it is easier said than done.

True to its name, test cricket is the ultimate challenge for any cricketer. It won’t be enough to just schedule heavy net sessions prior to the big game. The essential in this situation was the mental transition, about which Australia didn’t need to worry too much.

Why so? The other eight players were not IPL participants, with the exception of David Warner and Cameron Green. Cheteshwar Pujara was the lone outlier in India’s starting XI.

In his post-game news conference, India skipper Rohit Sharma also acknowledged that transitioning from T20 to Tests in such a short amount of time is challenging. He also had concerns about the WTC final’s schedule.

Why not do it in March? Because the International Cricket Council (ICC) has their hands bound with an already busy international calendar, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should be the one to address this question.

The ICC, the BCCI, and other cricket bodies have worked hard in recent years to make Test cricket more appealing to viewers. To keep the longer format relevant in an era where franchise based T20 leagues are the most popular draws, the notion of playing WTC finals on a two-year cycle was proposed.

The BCCI may claim to prioritise Test cricket, but its primary focus is the cash-rich IPL. If not, why was the IPL schedule not created with the WTC finals in mind? If this had proved difficult, the players’ respective IPL franchises may have released them early.

To clarify the preceding point, in 2021, India was leading the five-match Test series against England 2-1, and the fifth Test, scheduled for September 10 in Manchester, was cancelled a few hours before the toss due to Covid-19 concerns in the Indian camp. The series, which was favoured by India, was drawn, with England winning the fifth Test when it was rescheduled for July 1, 2022.

When the match was cancelled, the BCCI was chastised by former England players who joked that the Test could have been played if there had been no IPL. The IPL 2021 season was cut short on May 2 due to the fatal Covid-19 second wave in India, and it resumed on September 19. Former English players were probably correct in deducing the BCCI’s plan to prioritise the IPL over a Test match.

The IPL’s bright spotlight has cast a shadow over the Indian domestic circuit. If a rookie does well in the IPL, there is instant buzz, but the same cannot be said for players who have routinely performed well in domestic cricket. There are players in the current Test team who have reached their peak, and selectors should look to the Ranji Trophy rather than the IPL to find successors.

Also Read: Players who can replace Rohit Sharma as India’s Test captain (cricfiles.com)