Delhi: The discussion about considering the Australia-India Test series as a lifeline for Test cricket had not even ended when the ICC is ready to shock the Test cricket structure. It is reported that in this new thinking of ICC, the Big Three i.e. India, England and Australia are the most special. It seems that ICC has accepted that Tests between the Big Three are the 'lifeline for Test cricket' and hence every year they will definitely play a series between 2 of these 3.

There are different reactions to this thinking in the world of cricket and the cricket pundits themselves are not able to understand why ICC is cooking the pot of this thinking and whether this change will give 'life' to Test cricket. Let us see what ICC thinks?

• The proposal is that after the next round of WTC ends in 2027, it will be converted into a 2 level system. At many places this is also being called '7-5' or dividing the 12 Test teams into two divisions. If we look at the current ranking, these teams will be in these 2 divisions:

Division 1: South Africa, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan
Division 2: West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe

• To take this thinking further, new ICC Chief Jay Shah is soon to meet ECB President Richard Thompson and Cricket Australia President Mike Baird. If we assume that it is implemented as per the plan then the main changes will be that every year a series will be played between two of the 'Big 3'. In other words, Australia, England and India now play each other twice every 4 years and this will change to twice every 3 years. There will be an Ashes series every 18 months. So it is clear that England, Australia and India will play more series, which means more series between them and more money will come from that. What is the reason for such thinking?

1. The biggest inspiration was the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, whose Boxing Day Test alone was watched by 3.73 lakh viewers. Talking about the entire series, it is the most successful series till date in Australia in which an average of 45 thousand spectators watched 18 full days of cricket every day. The average viewership over the 26 days of the 1936-37 Ashes, famous for Don Bradman, was 36,400.
2. This year's India series in England for which the ECB has already started counting its profits. This will be the exact opposite of what happened in the English summer of 2024. At that time, the situation in the series against West Indies and Sri Lanka was such that even the expenses were not recovered in most of the matches.
3. Broadcasters also want that these Big 3 teams should play more series among themselves so that they can earn more.

The idea of ​​dividing Test cricket into two divisions is not new and the last time ICC thought of this was in 2016. You will be surprised to know that none other than the powerful BCCI was responsible for thwarting this idea. Then BCCI had openly opposed it and argued that this system would have a very bad impact on small countries and many may even stop playing.

Even now, others are making similar arguments but BCCI is now involved in this and BCCI will benefit the most. In just 8-9 years the thinking changed completely. Everyone is assuming that then the powerful BCCI had stopped it from being implemented (despite the support of Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies) and now the powerful BCCI will not let anyone stop it. In the current situation, it is certain that it can prove to be a big loss for countries like Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. The biggest change is in the situation of West Indies. In 2016, they were coming to Division 1 and were counting their gains, but now they are coming to Division 2 and are even saying that this way cricket in West Indies will be 'finished'.

The question is, will ICC really be able to make such a big change in the structure of Test cricket?