The 2019-21 World test was the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship, which was organised to get viewers attention back to test cricket, as per the purists test cricket was always seen as the real cricket, but since the emergence of T-20 cricket into the international arena it was seen that test cricket's existence has come under threat, with more and more people actually enjoying the shorter format of the game and longer format of the game getting almost no interest from the crowd ICC introduced World Test Championship which was under wrap for a long time, World Test Championship begun with the first Ashes Test of 2019 and finished with the final test match played at Rose Bowl, Southampton from Jun 18 - 23 2021, between India and New Zealand.
"Well, look, firstly, I'm not in absolute agreement of deciding the best Test side in the world over the course of one game, to be very honest, If it is a Test series, it has to be a test of character over three Tests, which team has the ability to come back into the series or totally blow away the other team. It can't just be pressure applied over two days of good cricket and then you suddenly are not a good Test side anymore. I don't believe in that."
"I think it has to be a hard grind and something that definitely needs to be worked on in the future to really -- at the end of three matches, there's effort, there's ups and downs, there are situations changing throughout the course of the series...."
"...A chance to rectify the things that you've done wrong in the first game and then really see who's the better side over the course of a three-match series or something will be a good measure of how things really are."
"...So we are not too bothered by this result because we understand, as I said, as a Test side what we've done over the last three, four years, not just over the last 18 months but over the last three, four years."
"So this is not a measure of who we are as a team and the ability and the potential we have had for so many years now."
"I think this definitely has to be brought in. I'm not saying this because we're not on the winning side, but just for Test cricket and for this saga to be absolutely memorable."
"I think it has to happen over a period of three games minimum so that you have a series to remember because there are going to be ups and downs through and through with two quality sides going at each other knowing that there's so much on the line,"
Coach Ravi Shastri already advocated about a three-match test series to decide the world's best in the test before the Indian team even left for England for the World test championship final and 5 match test series against England, Virat only echoed the same opinions and expressed his opinions it created divisions amongst the fans, some expressed the same opinions and some trolled Kohli for the same.
However, International Cricket Council mentioned that it's not possible due to the already crowded schedule of international cricket and it can be only possible in a perfect world, as the acting CEO of ICC, Geoff Allardice mentioned:-
"The reality of the international cricket schedule is that we're not going to have that month or so, blocking out a month or so for all the teams in the tournament for a final..., that's why (a) one-match final was decided upon."
"We were really pleased with the way it played out,It was obvious that the interest in certain series wasn't just restricted to the two teams involved, " he said. "It was coming from all over the cricketing world and I think to bring that sort of context to test cricket is a real step forward."
As I believe that ICC made World test championships to make test matches relevant again and to create a pinnacle event for five-day international cricket after the success of 50 and 20 overs, it will not be possible to change things as of now with Allardice already confirmed that its unlikely that they will change the rules, moreover a one-off test or a one-off match is currently the norm of deciding the champion in every format of the game, this helps in making a match competitive and even the match for both the teams playing the match.
If there is a possibility of a change in rules it can be made when other teams also complain or voice their opinions about the same, as we have seen in the past ICC do make changes or make new rules as per demands made by the member nations it's needed to be seen whether ICC can go ahead and change the rules of World Test Championship, let's see what future holds.
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