Nowadays, almost every cricketing nation has its own T20 league but whenever someone has to talk about declining interest of public in test cricket, they blame only one T20 contest and that is the Indian Premier League.
IPL is the pioneer of T20 leagues and it is undoubtedly the biggest and most popular T20 league of the present times. Recently, the former Indian cricketer Ian Botham claimed that in India, only IPL is being watched and nobody watches test matches. He further says that they may be earning big money and it sounds great too but how long it will last. Ian Botham means to say that there is an expiry date of IPL but test cricket has been there for 100 years and it will stay forever. As per the former English cricketer, if test cricket is lost, cricket will lose its meaning because test cricket is real cricket.
Ian Botham also claims that test cricket is loved in England, adding that they are lucky to be in England as all the tickets of Ashes, at least for the first four days, must have been sold out and this is something which doesn’t happen in any other country.
While Ian Botham was busy slamming IPL, he forgot to talk about effects of The Hundred on test cricket. If you are not aware, let us tell you that The Hundred is just like any other T20 league, the only difference is that 100 balls are bowled in an innings in contrast to 120 balls in T20 League. Eight men’s and eight women’s teams take part in this tournament which is organized by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
However, few England cricketers have also praised IPL as they feel that it has improved their game which has helped them in winning the T20 and ODI World Cups.
This statement from Ian Botham was more than enough to annoy cricket lovers of India and they soon started trolling the former England cricketer. While many Indian cricket lovers state that he is among those who are jealous of IPL as it is a cash-rich league and BCCI is earning a lot from it, there are some who have taken a dig at Ian Botham for his comment of test cricket loving nation as England is currently at the fifth position in the points tally of the World Test Championship 2021-23.
Here are some selected reactions:
once a wise man said… https://t.co/uzneyrVJ87 pic.twitter.com/fPTDH16c3e
— cricket is over (@anubhav__tweets) February 2, 2023
Have you seen English grounds? The crowd is packed with Sr Citizens, rich, leisurely, enjoying 5 days of cricket with no barrier of time & other resources. With low per capita income, India cannot afford that type of leisurely crowd at day time.
— A DAS (@behala34) February 3, 2023
https://twitter.com/himro45/status/1621414478813491201
Ian Botham on IPL pic.twitter.com/jVcubkz9Ji
— RVCJ Media (@RVCJ_FB) February 3, 2023
Meanwhile all english player playing whole IPL for two months even they have Ashes in June which they last won in 2015.
FYI the craze of BGT in India is more than upcoming Ashes and what about England position in WTC table? Seems like they are qualify @BeefyBotham
— Mohit (@moheet) February 4, 2023
Kya takleef hai dadaji ko
— Shweツ (@shwetasensei) February 4, 2023
https://twitter.com/CAA_125/status/1621558333454057472
Test cricket surviving because of three nations and india is one of them
— cristalclear (@kalyanjac) February 4, 2023
India will be playing 4-match test series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia starting 9th Feb 2023 and the first test match will be played in Nagpur. While India will like to make way in the finals of the WTC 2021-23 by winning this series, the visitors will like to win it because they have been on the losing side for the last three BGTs plus if they attain victory, they will win their first test series in India in 19 years.
What is your take on Ian Botham’s statement? Let us know.