At a time when Test cricket continues to face existential questions in the face of an onslaught of T20 leagues, former India batsman-turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar feels that it is actually T20 cricket and the cash-rich IPL that could help preserve the game’s traditional format, which he compared to a “heritage structure” by providing the funds to sustain it.
“It’s something that we have to make peace with. Test cricket will be like one of these heritage structures like your (Mumbai Police) offices and the CST Railway station, now where the other formats, especially T20 cricket and the IPL, will have to keep a fund aside to keep Test cricket alive like we do a heritage structure,” Manjrekar said on Monday at the prize distribution function of the Police Shield at the Police Gymkhana, where he was chief guest on the occasion.
It emerged in July last year that the International Cricket Council (ICC) is mulling a dedicated fund of at least $15 million for Test cricket that will help increase the players’ match fee and address the migration of talent to lucrative T20 franchise leagues. In July 2023, the Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) World Cricket Committee (WCC) proposed the creation of strategic funds to foster the growth and development of Test and women’s cricket.
It’s understandable why Test cricket has a special place in Manjrekar’s heart. Known as a technically correct batsman, the 59-year-old scored 2,043 runs in 37 Tests@37.14, with four hundreds and nine fifties in the 90s. He feels that people value and tend to remember performances in Test cricket, compared to those in T20s.
“There is also some motivation to do that because if you remember the India-Australia series, if you ask anyone here, even the younger players, they will know exactly what happened in that series. So, (there’s) something about Test cricket…Maybe people don’t watch every ball, but they remember what happened in a Test match. The results, performances resonate much longer than you would think in a T20 game, where you see great performances, but like the format, the effects of that performance are also for a very short time,” he said.
Manjrekar told the gathering of cricketers present on the occasion that while Test cricket won’t help them achieve a “huge bank balance,” performances in it would give “you some genuine respect from your fellow cricketers and peers.”
“There’s no harm in excellence of any kind. If you seek 50-over, or T20 excellence, that’s fine too. And anyone who has special fondness for Test cricket, remember one thing. You may not make as much money, and won’t have a huge bank balance, but you’ll have some genuine respect as a performer from your fellow cricketers and peers. So, if that’s important to you maybe that is the motivation to play Test cricket (for you),” he asserted.