ICC committee member Mahela Jayawardene is against turning Test cricket into four-day encounter

Former Sri Lanka skipper and International Cricket Council (ICC) committee member Mahela Jayawardene hasn't backed the idea of turning Test cricket into a four-day encounter.

“We will discuss it in the meeting (in March, and I don't know what will happen after that but my personal opinion is that it should remain five days. I would not want any change,” Jayawardene was quoted as saying by PTI.

Previously, India skipper Virat Kohli had also spoken on this topic and claimed its not a good idea to bring changes in Test cricket.

"According to me, it should not be altered. As I said, the day-night is another step towards commercialising Test cricket and you know, creating excitement around it, but it can't be tinkered with too much. I don't believe so," Kohli said.

On Tuesday (January 7), Cricket South Africa (CSA) publicly voiced their support towards ICC's concept of four-day Test matches by releasing an official public statement.

“In view of an unsourced and misleading report in the media this morning, please be advised that it is Cricket South Africa’s official policy to support four-day Test match cricket. We, in fact, hosted the first official four-day test match between ourselves and Zimbabwe a couple of years ago,” the statement read.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recently also confirmed their stand on ICC's proposition and claimed they will support the idea after 2023.

However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) are yet to reveal their decisions on this much-specualted topic.

There are some cricketers who have also welcomed ICC's proposition with open arms in the past few days. One of them is former Team India allrounder Irfan Pathan.

“I have been saying that for a few years now that four-day Tests should be there. I believe at least for couple of years that’s it is the way to go forward. We play four-day cricket in Ranji Trophy, we get results. So why not Test matches?” Irfan said.

“Obviously, nowadays results come regularly but if there are four-day Tests, every game will be result oriented...I totally, totally agree with four-day Test matches,” he added.