‘Players who haven’t played internationals are getting ₹7-10 crore. Why would they play Tests?’: Yuvraj Singh

Is Test cricket is dying? The debate has been there for long enough now. The growing popularity of T20 cricket and the mushrooming of T20 leagues across the globe being the major reasons behind that.

While most former cricketers put their weight firmly weight behind Test cricket, still rallying for the longest format of the game, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has a slightly different take.

The two-time World Cup winner said people want to play the shortest format of the game more.

“Test cricket is dying. People want to watch T20 cricket; people want to play T20 cricket,” Yuvraj said on Sports18’s programme Home of Heroes.

The former swashbuckling left-hander feels the money that players make for playing shorter format forces players to rethink their priorities.

“Why would someone play five-day cricket and get five lakh rupees and today play T20 cricket and get 50 lakh? Players who have not made it to international cricket are getting 7-10 crores,” he explained.

Currently, most top Test-playing nations have a franchise-based T20 league of their own with India leading the way with world’s most popular league IPL.

Yuvraj even went on express doubts about the 50-overs format. The 2011 ODI World Cup Player of the Tournament said that ODI cricket will also struggle to find mind space. “You watch a T20 game and then watch a 50-over game – it looks like a Test match now. After 20 overs, they are like, ‘There are 30 overs to bat!’,” said Yuvraj. “So, definitely T20 is taking over everything.”

Yuvraj announced his retirement in June 2019. The left-hander represented India in 40 Tests, 308 ODIs and 58 T20Is scoring 1900, 8701 and 1177 runs respectively. He also has 148 international wickets to his name.

Yuvraj is the only Indian to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket. He achieved the rare feat in the inaugural edition of T20 World Cup in 2007.