The former South African batsman AB de Villiers has said that the day Test cricket disappears from world cricket and cricket gets limited to only the shorter formats, as it is increasingly looking like right now, he would stop watching cricket altogether.
According to AB de Villiers, who was talking to News 24, test cricket is the no. 1 format of the game for him and he would like it to be played forever because it’s the pinnacle.
With the rise of franchise T20 leagues around the world, particularly the IPL, it seems as if the next decades are going to be dominated by the shorter formats of the game and test cricket might get confined to only 2 or 3 countries, which have been the historical flagbearers of test cricket.
There have been growing concerns among the former cricketers about the health of test cricket and now de Villiers has raised his voice as well. However, it’s interesting because de Villiers himself had taken a sabbatical from test cricket at a stage when he was at the peak of his career.
Recently, another South African wicketkeeper batsman Quinton de Kock announced his retirement from test cricket to focus more on the white ball formats of the game and the cricket experts fear that it might become a trend among the young cricketers going forward, where they might just aim to play only the biggest of T20 leagues around the world and not test cricket for their respective countries.
AB de Villiers himself played in IPL even after retiring from international cricket
AB de Villiers himself used to play in the IPL for quite a few years even when he had retired from international cricket for South Africa and it was only this year that he bade adieu to the IPL as well and retired from the game altogether.
However, the great man is still a big admirer of test cricket and wants the longest format of the game to thrive forever.
"I will stop watching cricket if Test Cricket were to be no more." – Ab De Villiers (To News24)
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) May 4, 2022
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