The Death of Test Cricket?

Sangakarra says 20-20 will make Test Cricket more interesting as batsmen will get more positive and adventurous/innovative. Oram, currently in England for the Test Cricket Series, says Test Cricket is the real thing and everything else comes second. Similarly, other players have sung praises about Test Cricket but hey, is everyone missing a point? Ultimately it is about money isn't it?

Will a youngster in India want to be like Tendulkar (many 100s and many runs in test cricket) or like Dhoni (an average average in Test cricket but commanding the highest in the IPL auction)?

Being romantic about test cricket is one thing. But one has to be practical. The only way test cricket can survive is by paying the test cricketer as much as an IPL player gets in IPL. Otherwise what is the motivation for playing test cricket? I am not suggesting that cricketers are greedy and would choose IPL over Test Cricket just because of the money to be made in IPL.

The question is: Why should a player risk injury and shorten his career by playing Test Cricket when he can just concentrate on 20-20 and make more money than he can ever make by playing Test Cricket?

Cricket team formation: Different nationalities can bond and play for a common cause - this has been happening much before ICL or IPL

Much before ICL and IPL happened, cricketers from different nations have played for the same team and bonded quite well. It happens all the time in English County cricket where players from Pakistan, Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, Australia and to an extent, India play for the same team. On such occasions, the player gives his best to ensure his county team wins. His nationality does not come into play at all.

Singapore clubs have always had players of different nationalities playing for the same club. When I first played cricket for Singapore Chinese Recreation Club in 1997, my opening batting partner was a Pakistani. (At that time tensions between the two countries were rather high. But we celebrated good cricket and ensured that our team won.) Other than the Pakistani, our team had a couple of Aussies, a couple of English men, Sri Lankans, South Africans, Indians and some Chinese as well. We played hard, we enjoyed each other's company and we wanted to win.

At the end of the day we had a good laugh over a chilled beer and that was that.

In other words, when you play for a team, you identify with the team, and little else.